Groove

Writer/director Greg Harrison chronicles the hours before, during and after a rave in an abandoned San Francisco warehouse. The film has an amiable disposition and an infectious (albeit monotonous) techno-pop soundtrack, and Harrison keeps it all on a low-key, kids-just-want-to-have-fun level. Harrison also shows us what passes for innocence here at the dawn of the 21st century: everyone drinks bottled water; there’s only a sprinkling of illicit drugs; the music discreetly drops in volume when people want to talk, and the closest thing to sex is an open-mouth kiss every now and then. The actors seem diffident and cool to a fault, and therefore they tend to blur together; Hamish Linklater as a would-be writer and Lola Glaudini as a veteran party girl make the strongest impressions.