The Beach (2000/I)

Director:

Danny Boyle

Writers:

John Hodge (screenplay)
Alex Garland (novel)

Release Date:

11 February 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Paradise has its price

Plot:

Twenty-something Richard travels to Thailand and finds himself in possession of a strange map. Rumours state that it leads to a solitary beach paradise, a tropical bliss - excited and intrigued, he sets out to find it.

Plot Keywords:

Map | Paradise | Hotel | Island | Travel

Awards:

7 nominations

Cast

Leonardo DiCaprio	...	Richard
Daniel York	...	Hustler
Patcharawan Patarakijjanon	...	Hotel Receptionist
Virginie Ledoyen	...	Françoise
Guillaume Canet	...	Étienne
Robert Carlyle	...	Daffy
Somboon Phutaroth	...	Cleaning Woman
Weeratham 'Norman' Wichairaksakui	...	Detective
Jak Boon	...	Travel Agent
Peter Youngblood Hills	...	Zeph
Jerry Swindall	...	Sammy
Krongthong Thampradith	...	Woman with Key
Abhijati 'Meuk' Jusakul	...	Senior Farmer (as Abhijati 'Muek' Jusakul)
Sanya 'Gai' Cheunjit	...	Farmer
Kaneung 'Nueng' Kenia	...	Farmer

Also Known As:

A Praia (Brazil) (Portugal) [pt]
La plage (Canada: French title) (France) (dubbed version) [fr]
La playa (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
Пляж (Russia) [ru]
A part (Hungary) [hu]
Beach (Sweden) [sv]
Beach (Finland) [fi]
Ha-Hof (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
I paralia (Greece) [el]
Kumsal (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Pláz (Czech Republic) [cs]
Stranden (Norway) [no]
The Beach (Germany) [de]
The Beach (Italy) [it]

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, some strong sexuality, language and drug content.

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English | French | Swedish | Thai | Serbo-Croatian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Malaysia:18PL | Brazil:18 | South Korea:18 | Australia:MA | Belgium:KT | Canada:14A | Finland:K-14 (video rating) | Finland:K-15 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-16 (original rating) | France:U | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:M18 | Singapore:PG (cut) | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #36919) | Philippines:R-18 | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Bangkok, Thailand

Company:

Figment Films

Trivia:

During the filming of the movie the film crew remodeled and flattened the beach using a tractor, making it unstable. The Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004 allowed the beach to be naturally restored to its previous state, much to the relief of the locals.

Goofs:

Continuity: The handwriting on the virtual postcard near the end of the movie changes style between wide shots and close-ups.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Richard: My name is Richard. So what else do you need to know? Stuff about my family, or where I'm from? None of that matters. Not once you cross the ocean and cut yourself loose, looking for something more beautiful, something more exciting and yes, I admit, something more dangerous. So after eighteen hours in the back of an airplane, three dumb movies, two plastic meals, six beers and absolutely no sleep, I finally touch down; in Bangkok.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Strákarnir okkar (2005)

Soundtrack:

Lonely Soul

Unfairly Panned; A Good Movie

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's good at playing the boyish, cocky immature type. He's also good at narration, which he provides here, as he has in a number of other films. In fact, I wish there were more of it in here.

French actress Virginie Ledoyen is a new face to me, and a pretty one. I found her intriguing, and not just because of her face Actually, all the characters were pretty darn interesting in this film and you get a varied group.

The scenery from Thailand is magnificent. By the way, "the beach" that's in this film really exists, just as it's seen here. The story is interesting, too, for the full two hours. My only complaint was that they might have toned down the language, particularly with all the f-words.

Don't listen to those national critics who blasted this. I think you'll be entertained.