The Beach

Plot synopsis:
Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio), a backpacker in Thailand, goes to Southeast Asia with the intention of experiencing something radically different from his familiar life. He meets Daffy (Robert Carlyle), who is crazy and rants on about a beach paradise on a secret island and the parasites of civilization. Daffy later commits suicide but leaves Richard a map to the island, convincing him that it exists.Richard meets Françoise (Virginie Ledoyen) and her boyfriend, Étienne (Guillaume Canet), and convinces them to accompany him to the island, partly out of an infatuation for Françoise. They travel from Bangkok to the shores of Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand, where Richard befriends a pair of American surfers. They talk excitedly about the myth of the beach and how it has an almost unlimited supply of marijuana. Richard does not admit his knowledge, but copies his map and slides it under their door the next morning.To finally reach the island, Richard, Françoise, and Étienne must swim across to it. When they first arrive on the island, they come across an enormous marijuana plantation guarded by local farmers armed with AK-47 assault rifles, where they barely manage to evade detection. After jumping off cliff and landing in a lake below, they are seen by Keaty (Paterson Joseph), who takes them to the beach community. They are cautiously interrogated by the island's leader Sal (Tilda Swinton) regarding their knowledge of the island, but are accepted. The trio are introduced to everybody and over the next few days go on to become integrated into the community.One night while Richard and Françoise are walking down the beach, she tells him that she is falling in love with him. They swim out into the ocean to look at a swarm of bioluminescent plankton, where Françoise kisses Richard and has sex with him on the beach. Despite their attempts to keep the romance a secret, the whole island finds out about it, including Étienne. Although devastated, Étienne says he will not stand in their way if Francoise is happier with Richard.At first the island and its community seem to live up to their reputation. Richard swims out into the ocean to catch fish with a harpoon and is attacked by a young mako shark, but he stabs it to death, which gains him much admiration. Events take a turn for the worse when Richard is chosen to accompany Sal to the mainland to acquire supplies, where Richard is inadvertently reunited with the American surfers who are preparing to go to the beach with two girls. Sal overhears their conversation about the copy of the map and confronts Richard, who admits his "guilt". In exchange for Sal's silence and Richard's return to the island, Sal blackmails Richard into having sex with her that night.When they return to the island, everything returns to normal until the Swedes are attacked by a shark while fishing. Sten dies almost instantly and Christo is severely injured. The only options for Christo are to go to the mainland to get medical help or stay on the island and take his chances, as Sal refuses to allow a doctor to come to the island. Christo chooses to stay, not wanting to go near the water after his encounter with the shark. Christo's condition worsens, consistently lowering the morale of the whole community, so they take him out into the middle of the jungle and leave him to die. However, Étienne, disgusted by the group's decision, vows to stay with Christo.Later, Sal observes the American surfers on the neighboring island and charges Richard with the task of watching them so he can obtain the map and destroy it. While he's waiting for the surfers to arrive, Françoise shows up, furious and heartbroken, saying that Sal has told everybody about her affair with Richard at Koh Phangan. Richard cannot cope with his task and retreats into the forest, where he becomes temporarily insane, believing that he is communing with the long-dead Daffy. He evades the other islanders and sets lethal traps in an attempt to keep them at bay, at times hallucinating that he is a character in a video game.Meanwhile, the surfers reach the island but are discovered and killed by the marijuana farmers before they can get to the beach. Richard witnesses their executions and retreats to the community to convince Étienne and Françoise to leave the island, believing that all their lives are now in danger. Étienne refuses, not wanting to leave the emaciated Christo, whose leg has become gangrenous. When the other two briefly leave the tent, Richard tearfully smothers Christo to death in a mercy killing. When he leaves the tent, however, he is struck across the face by a farmer and knocked unconscious.He wakes up in a tent in pain, surrounded by the community and the farmers. The farmers approach Sal, with whom they had an agreement, and give her a gun loaded with a single bullet and an ultimatum: shoot Richard dead and be allowed to stay, or leave the island forever. Sal approaches Richard and fires an empty chamber, throwing the crowd into chaos. The lead farmer smiles as the community instantly disintegrates. Sal collapses in a flood of tears, as the crowd, now in hysterics, flees in droves to get away from the island. Together, they swim back to the mainland and go their separate ways.The film ends with Richard stopping by an Internet cafe to check his mail. He receives a letter from Françoise titled "beach life" containing a photograph of the beach community and an animated handwritten inscription over the image: 'Parallel Universe. Love, Françoise x'. THIS FILM OKE

Tags: murder, cult, flashback, insanity, romantic, prank

Review:
Taking with him 2 French travellers, Richard sets out to reach the island and finds it inhabited by a mix of people living as a small ideallic community.
However internal conflicts rise up with their arrival and a copy of the map that he gave to some friends threaten to expose the paradise community for it's darker roots.While I know that the critics were a little hard on this film when it came out, my main reason for not going to see it was a feeling of total apathy towards it.
Director Boyle's direction is visually good too  whether it be drawing style from scenes or contrasting the city with the island or doing imaginative things like computer game style images, he does work well.The plot is good on paper but isn't as well brought through.
The film clearly is building into a teenage Hearts of Darkness type story where the DIY civilisation leads to cruelty and madness  this aim can be seen in an early scene where tourists sit watching Apocalypse Now in a waiting area.
It all happens to quickly and, although with brutal consequences, it really needed to be seen to be more of a gradual distancing from the norm rather than a sudden leap into an abyss.DiCaprio is not an actor that I particularly like or enjoy to watch but he is pretty good here.
The mix of multinational unknowns in the support roles are all good  even if, with so many good looking young people, it does feel a little like a music video shoot at times.Overall I enjoyed the film even if it never got as involving as I hoped it would.
The whole thing looks great and DiCaprio's star power and charisma helps keep the audience with him, it's just that the actual story doesn't quite have the rich feeling or depth that the tourist-film location does..
Amidst all that foreign intrigue, you are truly alone - an opportunity to be truthful to your instincts.When you are young and you travel, recklessness and the need to experience drive almost all your decision, well other than budgetary constraints.It is therefore quite truthful at times to relate to the character who is in search of this ultimate freedom, a place where all your worldly obligations are suspended and irrelevant.The movie is an irony.
Not only externally, that though it depicts the end purity of nature when fox's being sued for environmental damage, but also that any man-found paradise is not free, but with a price and in this case, could be the ultimate price.I truly enjoyed the movie especially at times the sparks of life's insight and moments of traveller's consciousness that when you are there, in that destination, IT becomes reality and no longer are you foreign and problems arise regardless.Though the romance is distracting, Etienne, Canet's portrayal is quite the eye candy.Definitely a watch, but may not appeal to all tastes..
Here is another of those films that got panned by critics all over the place, but I liked the movie and thought it was unfairly criticized.Two things are not up for debate: the film is entertaining and the cinematography is gorgeous.Leonardo DiCaprio's lead character is not particularly likable, but that's nothing new for him.
He asks two strangers, Françoise (Virginie Ledoyen who was really great in her first big American Film and good looking too by the way) and Etienne (Guillaume Canet) to come and join them.After they have found the island they meet an alternative group who lives there and they join them, but after a while problems evolve and a minor 'hell' breaks loose.This is the plain story-line of the movie, but there is so much more to it, it has a message and that really is what fascinated me a lot in the beginning and at the end.
There also is a bit gore, but it fits good in the movie and is not unnecessary.Yet this film is not flawless, it was good entertainment over all, yes and it was very good in the beginning and in the end, but in the middle when Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio) loses it, so does the film and that is a shame.
On a rating scale of 0 to 100; I gave The Beach a score of 72.Many people have stopped themselves from seeing The Beach because of bad reviews from critics and the story of the crew wrecking an entire island to make the movie.
Still, the bad reviews from the critics I disagree with, I found this quite a little gem, and if you agree with some of my other reviews, I recommend you don't hesitate when you see The Beach sitting on the drama shelf of your video store.The wonders of modern technology, like computers, video games, cell phones, pagers and the internet, were designed to make our lives more enjoyable and facilitate communications.
Danny Boyle's direction is solid and he paces the film nicely, and the script is adapted well from Alex Garland's better-than-movie book.
I didn't want to watch 'The Beach' because of the bad reviews, but when I accidentally came across it while surfing through the channels, I couldn't stop watching.If you're young and have a thing for interesting stories, you'll love this one.10/10.
Most of the movie is extremely depressing and generally uncomfortable to watch, but then the movie ends on a gleefully happy note as if nothing bad even happened.The best way I can explain The Beach is that it is a confused, hyper mess of a film that tackles a social commentary so blatantly obvious that it comes off grossly pretentious.
It's just a matter of more humans in one place than another.And who would figure on a story in which armed drug dealers actually turn out to be the good guys, probably because they know the truth about human nature better than their nirvana seeking neighbors.
It's slow scenes, extremely bad computer animations and the horribly outdated brit-pop soundtrack makes it an equally painful experience to watch.The movies ending is nothing but Richard being nostalgic about his beach adventures in his normal-life setting, not having learned any lesson or gained any emotional strength.
I was really tempted to sneak out of that stupid movie and go see THE TIGGER STORY!Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio), a young dope-addicted traveler who is trying to forget his past, meets a psycho named Daffy (Robert Carlyle) who gives him a map to a beautiful island/beach paradise before committing suicide.
:Trust Me, Its Paradise'The Beach' is a kinda of movie the feel of which surrounds you slowly and completely.I'd say Danny Boyle has done complete justification to the book.
It's based on a well regarded novel by Alex Garland , features Leonardo Dicaprio a megastar after his role in TITANIC and is directed by Danny Boyle one of Britain's greatest living directors and yet it's a film that is difficult to enjoy and it's easy to explain why - characterisation Take one American pretty boy , send him in Thailand , stick him on an island with a bunch of selfish , unsympathetic people and watch a potentially good film fall apart .
When you watch a movie and the most likable character is a mad mental foul mouthed dope smoking Scotsman then you know the producers have got a problem Another thing I had problems with is the way Leonardo Dicaprio's character Richard suddenly turns from inquisitive backpacker into Colonel Kurtz .
Anyone who finds a bunch of dope smoking hippies on an idyllic beach entertaining enough to watch for 2 hours has definitely been smoking rolled up copies of Amazing Thailand Travel Brochures or worse still the excruciatingly pretentious book the movie is based on .
Since the cast of characters is so youthful to begin with, the film is able to dispense with  or, at the most, treat obliquely  one of the major themes that runs through `Lost Horizon,' that of the universal lure of Eternal Youth.Di Caprio stars as Richard, a young man so bored with the mundane rituals of modern civilized life that he journeys alone to Bangkok to partake of the exotic experiences a more primitive life has to offer.
Leo DiCaprio is a great actor when he's given a chance (What's Eating Gilbert Grape, The Aviator, Catch Me If You Can) but here he's really just doing the whole boy-toy routine -- targeting the younger crowds of females rather than really trying to get into character.The plot isn't the greatest and the metaphors aren't deep -- the movie seems rather pretentious at times and tries to be heavier and more meaningful than it actually is.Of interesting note is that Danny Boyle (director of "Trainspotting") had a falling-out with star Ewan McGregor over this.
He brings a good deal of likability to the role, something of a relief among the Islanders, and I wish the whole story had revolved around his much more interesting and human character.In the end,we are left with unanswered questions and a great feeling of dissatisfaction..
My subsequent viewings over the years would see me lament about an arcade game sequence and bemoaning that Robert Carlyle wasn't given a more extended role, yet it has become a film that sees me totally on board with director Danny Boyle's production and it's now that I think it puts the story together with poignant precision.Leonardo DiCaprio is Richard, a backpacker searching for a bit more in life, after a meeting with pot smoking loony Daffy (the wonderful Robert Carlyle), he learns of an island paradise that is everything he has yearned for in his life.
Getting there will give him the adventure and danger he craves, because once there it apparently will be the thing of dreams, the perfect paradise cut off from civilisation...The film is very much split in two, the first half introduces us to Richard and the people he would convince to travel with him to this island paradise, we then follow their journey that is perfect in fleshing out the characters, they come up against obstacles and learn about each other on the way.
The second half is well worth waiting for because it's here that the story kicks in to make the viewer think, it's idyllic, it's gorgeous, it's near perfect, but wherever there is a community, there will be personal hang ups, jealousies, power seekers and etc, in short, the surroundings may be perfect but the human condition is far from flawless.I love this film now, I love DiCaprio's performance, a cocky smart- arse thrill seeker about to get a wake up call is tailor made for him, and he delivers it with a skillful array of emotions.
The film suffers with the inevitable comparisons to Lord Of The Flies & Hearts Of Darkness, and yes these are fair comparisons, but it doesn't take away from the fact that it's a fine film for the modern generation in its own right, with the core point of the story relevant to all and sundry.Fans of the novel would prove to be very ambivalent towards this filmic adaptation, but in my book it gets better on repeat viewings.
Who told  Danny Boyle that it would be a good movie if you put Leonardo di Caprio on a tropical island and let him do a little bit of fishing?
Flaccid adaptation of Alex Garland's novel about a young American abroad in Thailand (Di Caprio) who comes across a map to a desolate island paradise and embarks for the promised land with his befriended French couple where they discover less than idyllic offerings in an all too good to be true hideaway from civilization.Comes across as a hybrid of 'The Blue Lagoon' and 'Lord of The Flies' as envisioned by a group of stoned hippies with a lot of laughable sequences and a surprisingly uninteresting plot (man becoming more uncivilized and the disharmony after madness approaches one's being).
I can't believe after watching this film that Garland signed away a beautiful, gripping and thought-provoking novel, which operated on so many levels, to this dumbed-down Hollywood trash movie.
Richard gets acquainted with a couple of stunning-looking French models (I mean, tourists) and they travel searching for paradise on earth.What they find is a sort of hippie community, living on a hidden beach, next door to a marijuana plantation guarded by armed thugs.
As for the cult movie potential, I think the next generations must judge it, but it has a great deal of bitterness to it and if two years later the film isn't a "word of mouth" phenomenon, maybe it won't have such a cult afterall.
For a movie directed by Danny Boyle (Sunshine, 28 Days Later, Trainspotting,etc.) that stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tilda Swinton...
It starts off pretty good with a shady guy coming up to Leo's character (Richard) and saying that he knows of a "perfect paradise".
After having read the great book, I wanted to watch the film despite a lot of the bad word of mouth it had gotten.
I may want to have sex again in the morning." That's practically the only interesting line from THE BEACH, an incredibly unconvincing and suspense-less film about a bunch of rich backpackers who stumble onto the "perfect" beach in Thailand.Leonardo DiCaprio is supposed to be the boy who goes wild in the jungle -- kind of like casting Hugh Grant to play Rambo.
I think I basically watched this movie because at the time, I was interested in finding out more about Virginie Ledoyen, the french actress who stars in this movie alongside DiCaprio and the rest of a relatively no-name cast.There were some action-like scenes, but nothing to really make a fuss about.
A 180 for Leo. Leonardo DiCaprio, in a good portrayal of today's youth, does a 180 degree turn from 'Titanic' in this film which has a communal look, dives into the true aspects of human nature and has a tense climax.
The Beach is a prime example of when a good book turned into a movie goes bad...The Beach tells the story of an American traveller in Bangkok - looking for the ultimate experience.
He befriends a Scottish traveller who, after suiciding, gives the American a map to a secret beach - the most beautiful beach in the world (or so the story goes)...The Beach feels like a bit of a train-wreck of a movie.
Leonard De Caprio - although a talented actor - feels so uncomfortable as the lead.Danny Boyle (most famous for the film Trainspotting) gives a bit of visual flair to this movie (as well as a pretty good soundtrack) - but with no soul.The action feels forced and un-thrilling.
The actors on the whole feel way too hammy.You don't really get to feel for Richard (the main character) and his transition over to the "dark side" probably because Leonard couldn't act his way out of a paper bag in this movie.And what is with that video game dream sequence - it probably rates as one of the most embarrassing scenes ever committed on film....
What it has going against it is a cast of sniveling little teenagers who think that acting like hippies and smoking reefer on a beach that never ends is the equivalent to living a free-spirited life away from the concerns of a terrifying modern world.
The Beach (2000)You want to like this movie, for sure.
It's about a dream come true, if if you've ever travelled even a little in this backpacker Gringo trail kind of way, you'll feel like you're there.But then, it's also just a movie, and it shows an indulgence now and then, an implausibility not in the big idea (which is absurd--and digitally invented, by the way, the beach part), but in certain interactions.
Watching the Beach is like looking at a postcard from a tropical island: it is a pretty picture, but it is also paper thin, and nothing happens in it.
When Richard (DiCaprio) and his friends find this island, that movie/book was the first thing I thought of.
"The Beach" has excellent photography, but provides nothing new it terms of story or acting talent.While the novel may be of high quality, the film seems like an expensive and take-off version of "Lord of the Flies" as there is a society, secret from other adults and nobody else can come in, least they'd be killed.
The Beach is based on a book of the same name and has some stunning picturesque locations(Thailand) but there are no redeeming qualities among any of the characters and the film just sort of...trudges along.
The Beach is based on a book of the same name and has some stunning picturesque locations(Thailand) but there are no redeeming qualities among any of the characters and the film just sort of...trudges along.
Many people call The Beach Danny Boyle's weakest and most disappointing films.
they can't all be perfect." The Beach stars Leonardo DiCaprio, infamously snatching the role from Boyle favorite Ewan McGregor causing a dramatic fallout between the two, as Richard, a young guy who, while visiting Thailand, gets his hands on a map that leads to a mysterious island rumored to be a paradise.
See that the only thing that the film retains from the book is the names of the characters and, of course, The Beach.
This, even though several of the people in the photograph died gruesome deaths, he killed one of them, was shunned by his mates, and had a gun pointed at his head by another (a disgusting character played by Tilda Swinton).I really can't stop thinking of enough bad things to say about this film, so I'll be generous and stop there.Danny Boyle, why did you not retire after making this atrocity?.
I think that a lot of the negative feeling must arise from people hoping that Leonardo DiCaprio would make a bad movie because of his success with Titanic.