_=_The latest from filmmaker Rikki Beadle-Blair (Metrosexuality, F.I.T.), Bashment swirls together race, sexuality, rhythm, and rhyme into a stark portrait of human potential and pain.

J.J. is an aspiring M.C. who’s taken London’s outlaw urban music scene by storm. He’s got the skills, the rhymes, and the drive. But he may run into a few hurdles on his reach for greatness; he’s white, he’s from the sticks, and he’s gay. J.J.’s resolved to come out onstage at the Urban Slam Finals, bringing his boyfriend Orlando along as moral support. The Illford Ilmanics are the current darlings of the scene, with their skills, charisma, sex appeal, and raw edge. When they swagger up to the stage an hour late, they’re shocked to discover they’ve been disqualified. That J.J. is gay only pours salt into the wound, and while J.J. is onstage, the frustrated Illmanics take out their rage on Orlando, beating him so badly that he suffers permanent brain damage. A victim reconciliation program brings J.J. face to face with Orlando’s attackers, pulling all involved into an orbit they from which they can’t escape.

Gritty performances — on and off the mic — from a young cast of Beadle-Blair regulars and new faces give depth to brutally flawed characters. What starts as a visceral, pounding story eases into a nuanced contemplation of masculinity and what lengths we’ll go to in order to protect others — and ourselves.