The Beach Review
by Sean Townsend (seanman AT ibm DOT net)February 23rd, 2000
THE BEACH
STARRING: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tilda Swinton, Virginie Ledoyen, Guillaume Canet, Robert Carlyle
DIRECTOR: Danny Boyle
WRITTEN BY: John Hodge (based on Alex Garland's novel)
Before Leo became LEO thanks to an obscure little film about a doomed ship, he'd been following in Johnny Depp's footsteps, trying to dodge the pretty-boy pigeonhole by taking on roles in edgy, uncommercial films. Whether it was the junkie antihero in The Basketball Diaries or homosexual poet Arthur Rimbaud in Total Eclipse, DiCaprio above all wanted to be known for his intensity as an actor. It's very easy to see, then, why he chose this film as his first post-Titanic leading role. Not only is it helmed by the reigning king of edgy directors (Trainspotting's Danny Boyle), but it's a movie about a guy who literally gets away from it all-- including all those screaming prepubescent females who hound him wherever he goes. Unhappily, Boyle's techno-infused style remains, but the grittiness that worked so well in Trainspotting has been replaced by a glossiness that renders the film as unmovingly beautiful as a postcard from some exotic locale.
DiCaprio plays Richard, a young thrill seeker backpacking in Thailand. Soon after his arrival, he quaffs a shot of snake blood just for the raw experience. Presumably, this is to let us know that he's nothing if not intense. Taking up residence in a seedy Bangkok hotel, he meets French lovers Etienne (Guillaume Canet) and Francoise (dusky-voiced Virginie Ledoyen), not to mention a mentally unbalanced fellow who calls himself Daffy (Carlyle). One night, over a shared joint, Daffy babbles something to Richard about a hidden island paradise. The next day, Daffy has committed suicide, but not before drawing Richard a map to the legendary beach. With the French couple in tow, Richard finds the place, and discovers that it harbors more secrets than he expected. Falling in with a multicultural commune that has been living undetected on the island for almost six years, the three find happiness and love... at least for a while. Soon enough, trouble comes to the island-- mainly due to Richard's big mouth and loose zipper-- and he learns the high price of paradise.
Like much of the electronic music on the soundtrack, the film is energetic but ultimately toneless. A few references are made to Apocalypse Now, a vastly superior exploration of the human heart of darkness. Watching Leo get in touch with his animal side, complete with tattered headband, I kept thinking the film should have been named Lord of the Barflies. As far as the rest of the island enclave goes, it's a notch or two above Gilligan's Island in believability, but that's not exactly a compliment. There's even the requisite bad-guys-across-the-island subplot from The Blue Lagoon to spice things up.
All snideness aside, there are other glitches. One scene in which Richard imagines himself as a pixellated videogame character fighting off the dangers of the jungle makes little to no sense unless you happen to have read the Alex Garland novel, in which Richard is characterized as a pop culture-obsessed videogame addict. The film barely touches on this facet of his personality, which would have helped immensely in explaining his reactions to certain events on the island.
On the plus side, the movie features some of the most glorious tropical scenery you're likely to see, filmed on location in Thailand and digitally polished to a high gloss. For all the natural beauty on display, though (including the young, thin, and good-looking cast), the film never resonates emotionally, even during a climactic scene involving Richard and Sal (Tilda Swinton), the group's leader. All in all, it's just too pretty to be taken seriously, which is exactly the fate that Leo's been trying to avoid all along.
GRADE: **
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