The Beach (2000)
Country: US/GB
Technical: col/2.35:1 119m
Director: Danny Boyle
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Virginie Ledoyen, Guillaume Canet, Tilda Swinton, Robert Carlyle
Synopsis:
An American in Thailand looking for the 'big adventure' gets more than he bargained for when he acquires a hand-drawn map to a secret beach on a remote island unspoiled by human depradations.
Review:
Much reviled on its release as something of a sell-out to marketability, this story of a paradise lost through man's own transportable vices - represented amongst other things by Richard's mendacity, the greed of the drug farmers, the pride of Sal's autocratic sway over the community, and the crucial failure of the latter in tending to its injured unto death - does get a bit lost under all the lush scenery and adventure movie tropes, though it's easy to see their appeal to the producers. Nevertheless, enough survives to make this another recognisable Danny Boyle movie of compromised masculinity, with even one Trainspotting-style flight of fancy when Richard becomes a character in his own island video game.
Country: US/GB
Technical: col/2.35:1 119m
Director: Danny Boyle
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Virginie Ledoyen, Guillaume Canet, Tilda Swinton, Robert Carlyle
Synopsis:
An American in Thailand looking for the 'big adventure' gets more than he bargained for when he acquires a hand-drawn map to a secret beach on a remote island unspoiled by human depradations.
Review:
Much reviled on its release as something of a sell-out to marketability, this story of a paradise lost through man's own transportable vices - represented amongst other things by Richard's mendacity, the greed of the drug farmers, the pride of Sal's autocratic sway over the community, and the crucial failure of the latter in tending to its injured unto death - does get a bit lost under all the lush scenery and adventure movie tropes, though it's easy to see their appeal to the producers. Nevertheless, enough survives to make this another recognisable Danny Boyle movie of compromised masculinity, with even one Trainspotting-style flight of fancy when Richard becomes a character in his own island video game.
Country: US/GB
Technical: col/2.35:1 119m
Director: Danny Boyle
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Virginie Ledoyen, Guillaume Canet, Tilda Swinton, Robert Carlyle
Synopsis:
An American in Thailand looking for the 'big adventure' gets more than he bargained for when he acquires a hand-drawn map to a secret beach on a remote island unspoiled by human depradations.
Review:
Much reviled on its release as something of a sell-out to marketability, this story of a paradise lost through man's own transportable vices - represented amongst other things by Richard's mendacity, the greed of the drug farmers, the pride of Sal's autocratic sway over the community, and the crucial failure of the latter in tending to its injured unto death - does get a bit lost under all the lush scenery and adventure movie tropes, though it's easy to see their appeal to the producers. Nevertheless, enough survives to make this another recognisable Danny Boyle movie of compromised masculinity, with even one Trainspotting-style flight of fancy when Richard becomes a character in his own island video game.