The Beach (2000)

Leonardo DiCaprio sought to distance himself from the purity of his character in Titanic, and his role in The Beach is in many ways a polar opposite. As Richard, a young American seeking to "suck in the experience" of freestyle travel in Thailand, he's a chronic liar, a pot-smoking hedonist, an amoral lover, and ultimately an unstable snake in a doomed Garden of Eden. This crazy descent might be expected from the filmmakers of Trainspotting, but The Beach is a movie without a rudder, venturing into fascinating territory, promising a stimulating adventure, and then careening out of control.

After receiving a not-so-secret map to a secluded island from a stoned-out loony (Robert Carlyle, full of dark portent and spittle), Richard sets out to find the hidden paradise with a young French couple (Virginie Ledoyen, Guillaume Canet). What they find is a tropical commune existing in delicate balance with Thai pot farmers, and before long--as always--there's trouble in paradise. There's trouble in the movie, too, as DiCaprio is reduced to histrionics when the plot turns into a muddled mix of Lord of the Flies and Apocalypse Now, with shark attacks tossed in for shallow tension. Director Danny Boyle attempts perfunctory romance and a few audacious moves (notably DiCaprio's vision of life as a violent video game), but what's the point? Tilda Swinton registers strongly as the commune's charismatic leader, but her character--and the entire film--remains largely undeveloped, and pretty scenery is no guarantee of a laudable film. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.com

LIFE'S A BEACH AND THEN. . . well . . .

There is a genre of film we have dubbed It's-So-Hard-Being (Fill In Pampered Stars Name Here) Cinema, in which an obscenely over-paid actor goes through an existential crisis and finds his life, like, totally shallow, and so divorces himself from all those superficial trappings and returns to what's really important. Think of Anthony Hopkins in It-Stinked -- sorry, INSTINCT, Kevin Spacey in AMERICAN BEAUTY, Winona Ryder in GIRL, INTERRUPTED. The resulting performances are usually difficult to swallow since they come from people who spend more money on Melrose Avenue in half an hour than we make in a month. One of the most ridiculous contributions to this largely insufferable collection is from Leonardo DiCaprio, who got paid twenty million clams to get back to nature.

In THE BEACH, director Danny Boyle's hilariously self-serious travelogue, Leo goes to Thailand in search of himself. He overdoses on "Who am I?" voice-overs in the beginning but never really convinces us he's anything more than a Beverly Hills brat in the midst of an amusingly naive rebellion. Roughing it in a fleabag motel, he meets pothead Robert Carlyle, who gives him a map to an island paradise. Since all this navel-gazing would be incomplete without some French influence, Leo teams up with a gorgeous gamine and her equally photogenic boyfriend to find the mythic paradise.

So, what then is the film once it hits the glorious white sands? Is it ROBINSON CRUSOE? Is it LORD OF THE FLIES? Is it beautifully shot and dumb as a coconut rind? The answers are "Not really," "Hell, no," and "You betcha." On the island, Leo goes shirtless, gets a tan, sleeps with two different women for no apparent reason, kills a shark, yells a lot, imagines himself as a character in a video game and saves the tribe from bloodthirsty drug-dealers. No, it doesn't make a shred of sense, but it sure is pretty. Leo bends over backward trying to be a sexy stud, an action hero and a jungle madman, often in the same scene. Not to diminish his talent, but he's just too darn cute for any of it to be believable.

The mediocre reviews originally given to THE BEACH were much too kind. Thank goodness Leo got back to the real basics; making GOOD movies.
April 20, 2008

I liked this one

I did like The Beach despite of it's depressing nature. It certainly is not a "pick me up" kind of a film, but there was just something about the idea of this really happening that is very intriguing to me. I like to daydream and what better movie than to watch to stimulate my imagination. The actors and actresses were great. Tilda Swinton was the "ringleader" if you will, (she also starred as the White Witch in the Chronicles of Narnia) she just has a very believable presence on film that drew me in the movie. Like the White Witch, she had a haunting aura on film. I found it to be like a differnt version of "Lord of the Flies". There is always evil among people. The movie could have been made a bit better, but over all I would reccommend anyone to give it a shot. March 2, 2008

PARADISE LOST ?

Young male visitor to Thailand circa 1999 finds life of possibilities which never existed 30 years ago. Imagine thinking of this area of the world as an island paradise during Vietnam, Kent State et al. Anyway, Richard (DiCaprio)throws it all away, first by lying about a copy of an island map, then by allowing his sexual emotions to run rampant.He fails to see that the women of a small commune that embraces him are not to be trusted with sexual secrets, especially the dangerous Swinton, the seemingly self appointed ""leader of the pack". He also learns, too late, that pleasure seekers tend to be almost totally selfish and self centered; when the going gets tough, the tough get going-right back to "playland".Whatever, Leo is almost always up to a good piece of acting, and he succeeds here once again. If anything, it's the uneveness of the production, its shallowness that seems to have created an almost entirely split audience of reviewers. Adding superior cinematography does nothing to harm this reviewer's account. Give it a B minus. February 9, 2008

self indulgence has its price

Time has given this controversial movie its audience. It nearly accidentally killed Boyle and it severed his relationship with Ewan Mcgregor*check IMDB for more details. It's a great film for anyone familiar with Danny Boyle; a director who is not happy with giving backstories. This is more obvious in his zombie reinvention genre 28 days later where he puts you 28 days later, literally. Leaving you to pick up your survival knowledge as you tumble along with the proctagonist. Here, he starts things off with Daffy, a shady man who speaks of a mysterious beach isolated from the sea. We never understand why he was outcasted from the island, nor his circumstances. But that's Boyle's style. Leonardo Dicaprio plays Richard, an American who doesn't know metrics and is in permanent seek of the ultimate sensation. Boyle always has an electronic, synthesizer soundtrack. John Murphy more popularly. But in this film it is a mix of cover songs and a few original songs by numerous artists. None by John Murphy to my dissapointment. Tilda Swinton makes a surprising cameo as Sal. Sal is that demented advocate who believes in the community as a check or balance that is beyond necessary, mandated is more like it. We push forward into the reality of the beach and in the end we are TORN out of paradise. I suppose there is no other way to be expelled from paradise but to be forced out, torn out. This is a great movie to further your knowledge of a very gifted director. Listening to his commentary is the best part. His lecture to the end really establishes his many choices for this controversial movie. January 12, 2008

Accurate portrayal

This movie really captures the spirit of traveling to an exotic country. There is always an adventure if someone travels outside the normal tourist destinations although maybe not as much as this film indicates. It still shows what can really happen in an isolated culture. I'd love it if adventure were that accessible!

Foreign characters are much more forgiving than with real life ex-pats. They seem to want the foreigners living there much more than is the case in real life. Nevertheless, the feeling of being in a place where it is accepted that you can do as you want is conveyed really well. As long as you don't break "their rules."



December 17, 2007

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