Off Beat follows 26-year-old Lukas (Hans-Jakob Mühlethaler), who is not so much living as floating.
His dream of making it as a musician is on the wane and his great passion – freestyle hip-hop – has also past its heyday. Lukas lives with his producer, 46-year-old Mischa (Domenico Pecoraio), in an old loft where they cultivate cannabis. They have been having a turbulent affair for years – but this is a closely guarded secret.
Lukas has grown cold inside and only really feels himself in moments of excess. Drunk and coked-up to the eyeballs, he toils his way through a gig in a small club. In the audience his sixteen-year-old brother Sämi (Manuel Neuburger), an ambitious rapper himself, feels nothing but shame for his brother’s embarrassing performance.
Mischa decides that he has had enough of Lukas’ escapades and suggests they ask Sämi to join the band. Sensing that he is about to be substituted, Lukas gets out of his head and starts to take back control of his life.
A gritty drama that shines a spotlight on a corner of closeted gay life not often seen on film, Swiss writer-director Jan Gassmann’s Off Beat is now streaming on Dekkoo. Check out the trailer below.
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