What We Started

I've been a successful DJ in the scene for Over a decade and have seen most of the major Dance music Films made trying to cover the truth...this film Hands down is the best movie ever made about Dance music! Rather you are a dance music lover or completely unfamiliar with the scene "What We Started" will give you a very accurate look Into the world of Dance while entertaining you From start to finish. Highly recommend this!

I attended the premiere of this movie last nigh and it was very cool. As someone who used to go to underground parties in the 90s, the movie really took me back (and seeing some of the guys in person that used to play at the parties that I went to as also awesome). I haven't kept up with dance music as much recently, so I learned a lot and was genuinely entertained throughout. I am really impressed by Martin Garrix. What a talent.

What begins as a thorough journey from the early days of house music loses its way somewhere after rave culture. The doc struggles to bridge the late 90s to modern electronic music, leaving the entire 1990s house/pop crossover movement behind, skipping eurodance and somehow landing at David Guetta swinging at crossover hits without acknowledging acts like Daft Punk and perhaps Prodigy? I found the narrative choices confusing and bland as the filmmakers tried to bridge the old (Carl Cox) with the new (Martin Garrix) by spending too much time with Martin and not enough time on telling the bigger story. I guess what it comes down to is that electronic dance music is a huge genre that rarely gets proper respect. Only the book "The Underground is Massive" came close to doing it right, and it's a much better place to spend your time.

I didn't know much about this kind of music before I saw What We Started, but I was super inspired by the film and have now purchased tickets to my first electronic dance music event! I learned so much by watching the film and felt really invigorated by the music.

I went to a director's screening of WHAT WE STARTED and it is a must see. In particular, I absolutely loved getting to know the characters. Martin Garrix is so different than my initial impression of him! He is so sweet, deep and humble. I also loved hearing Carl Cox's story and I might try to sneak into the March premiere, so that I can meet him. He seems truly amazing. I love all kinds of music, but never knew a ton about this genre, so I found it to be really educational, too, which was a great surprise (since I expected mostly upbeat, entertainment, which this has, but it has more than just that)!