We know you love free movies as much as the next kid without a rent-controlled apartment, so Gothamist and Wellspring are giving away 5 pairs of tickets to a midtown screening of The Beat That My Heart Skipped on Monday, June 27th. For details, please continue reading.
The Beat That My Heart Skipped, a loose remake of James Toback’s 1970’s noir classic Fingers, is a French subtitled drama boasting a slightly hallucinatory flair – featuring quickly edited fuzzy shots, close-ups, and handheld camera scenes – and an angst-ful yet entertaining plot: A cocky, quickly-agitated yet sensitive urbanite, Tom (played by the talented & intense Romain Duris) follows his crook father in managing French real estate but dreams of stepping in his classical concert-pianist mother’s footsteps.
Nearly thirty, Tom resentfully works in his father's field (often by harassing squatters and destroying nearly abandoned buildings), but after a chance encounter with his deceased mother’s former manager, he’s inspired to suppress his messy, dirty business tactics to conquer his mother’s instrument. Though still torn between a father’s expectations and a mother’s legacy, he opts to prepare for an audition by hiring a non-French-speaking Chinese piano-teacher (their time together offers some of the more comedic moments). And amidst struggling for a career change, he must also deal with his father’s shady business failures, a complicated love-interest, co-workers disapproval, and his own artistic shortcomings.
It’s obvious you shouldn’t expect a packaged Disney ending, but director Audiard manages to capture the emotional anguish and anxiety of adults wavering between unwelcome obligations and somewhat far-fetched ambitions. The Beat That My Heart Skipped is a well styled, captivating, subtly-suspenseful film - drawing the audience into the changing plot turns and the protagonist’s complex life as it leads up to the last shocking scenes.
And really, we swear on a box of Raisinets – its not like those boring French films (bursting with serious, intellectual characters who only smoke and do absolutely nothing, or possibly have a bitter fight in a kitchen) your professors subjected you to in college.
Entries will be accepted until 8 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, June 21st with the winner notified by e-mail. Gothamist will not sell or distribute the e-mail addresses obtained through this promotion.
Contest Entry:
