Great Movie (Believe it or Not)

Rating: 9/10 (9 June 2011)

I'm a Danny Boyle fan. Not the biggest fan in the world, but I certainly enjoy his style. However, I had heard that this movie was a stinker, so I decided to give it a pass for a while. When I did get around to seeing it, I was blown away.
1. The acting. The acting was superb. Robert Carlyle was excellent as Daffy. Both french actors (Virginie Ledoyen and Guilliaume Canet) were solid. DiCaprio was great. One review I read accuses him of playing a "nobody" but I assure you that this is exactly why he was so brilliantly cast. He's an American twenty-something on vacation in Thailand. He is unsure of himself and he is capable. He doesn't know what he wants or why he's here. DiCaprio plays this part perfectly, acting both unsure and overconfident. Tilda Swin is perfect as the leader of a small island community.
2. Storytelling. This movie is really hard to place. It starts out as a "finding oneself" type film with some thriller elements. It ends up... somewhere I did not expect it to go. THe story follows a windy road full of twists and turns, and takes the viewer to places he had no intention of going. It should also be mentioned that this film is fairly similar to Apocalypse Now (Boyle's Favorite Film). This movie is also funny. I wasn't expecting that either. There are moments (very few, actually) of fun and play in this overall rather dark story.
3. Score, editing, cinematography, etc. When I watch a Danny Boyle film, I am always reminded of the other films he's made, both stylistically and thematically. Despite using different cinematographers, his films invariably have a specific visual style (much more apparent in his later films) with angled camera, and rich blues, yellows and greens. In many ways, this film reminded me a little of Trainspotting crossed with 127 Hours. It's less flashy than one, and more than the other, and deals with some similar elements of trial that are present 127 Hours, as well as an interesting cast of characters, like Trainspotting. Both films have at least one hallucination/insanity moment, but I will not go too far down that road for fear of uncovering spoilers. The score was fine, I felt it fit the film rather well, giving it the flashy wildness of the 2000 without going overboard. Most of the soundtrack has a kind of retro synth feel combined with a more modern beat. Not the best music on the planet, but nothing to lose sleep over.
Anyways, I could go more in depth about specific story elements, plot devices and scene structures, but I won't for brevity's sake. But, to sum up my review: I loved it. At many points during the film I found myself thinking: this is such a good movie. Don't listen to the bad reviews. this is completely worth watching.