Year of Release: 2000
Director: Danny Boyle
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tilda Swinton, Virginie Ledoyen, Guillaume Canet, Robert Carlyle, Peter Youngblood Hills, Paterson Joseph, Zelda Tinska, Victoria Smurfit, Daniel Caltagirone, Peter Gevisser, Lars Arentz-Hansen, Jukka Hiltunen, Magnus Lindgren
Genre: Drama, Adventure
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 3
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Synopsis and Review
Following a trifecta of solid films, namely "Shallow Grave", "Trainspotting" and "A Life Less Ordinary", director Danny Boyle tackled a bigger budget with the adaptation of Alex Garland's "The Beach", with his regular creative team, including screenwriter John Hodge, who also worked with him in all of the films mentioned previously. The narrative focuses on Richard, a twenty-something American who is traveling alone, and is seeking adventure in Bangkok. While staying at his hotel, he casually makes an acquaintance with a young French couple, and a man by the name of Daffy. Daffy lets him know that there's a beautiful island in the Gulf of Thailand, that is sheltered from everything and seems like paradise. Soon after Richard discovers Daffy dead as a result of suicide, but realizes that he left him a map to get to that secluded island. He convinces the French couple to come with him to the island. He is also very much infatuated with Françoise. After making it to the island, they realize that there's a cannabis plantation there that is guarded by armed Thai farmers. They manage to evade them, and eventually get to the other side of the island, where they realize there's a small community of people from all over the world, who have been living there in a type of new age cult commune. Sal, the English leader of the commune, explains that the farmers allow them to stay on the island, as long as no one shares the location of the place, and no more travelers come to the island. The community lets them in, but some cracks start slowly manifesting themselves in the group.
What personally surprised me most about this film, is how little substance and actual plot points there are to it. This tale of youthful beautiful people looking for a sort of Eden, or respite to escape their boredom, or sheltered upbringing, could have gone in the direction of something similar to Jonathan Kaplan's "Brokedown Palace", but instead has vibes of "Lord of the Flies" mixed with Randal Kleiser's "The Blue Lagoon" and some of the lunacy Francis Ford Coppola captured on "Apocalypse Now" (the tribes living under the "leadership" of Marlon Brando's Kurtz). Sadly for the film and for all the talent involved, the plot just isn't that creative, or unexpected, the same going for the characters all of which remain rather shallow throughout the entire narrative. Richard, Sal, Françoise, and Étienne, are as much of an enigma at the beginning of the film as they are by its ending. The circumstances in which they find themselves in, doesn't serve to inform much more about who they are as individuals/characters. It's challenging to understand what their motivations are, and how they actually envision their lives progressing on the island or beyond that existence in the island. Unlike Danny Boyle's prior films, where there were anti-heroes who while flawed and even capable of monstrous decisions/actions, had an arc they went through, in which they eventually came to terms with themselves, this film in particular feels unresolved, and not because there isn't a "moral lesson" to take away from here, but mostly because these characters remain somewhat unaffected, and underdeveloped. The cast tries their best with the script, but Leonardo DiCaprio's intensity is wasted here, as is Tilda Swinton's ability to construct characters that are layered and nuanced. The production team is solid, including Darius Khondji's cinematography, Angelo Badalamenti's score, and Andrew McAlpine's production design. It's a missed opportunity for all the talent involved and ultimately not a very interesting film.
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