The Beach (I) (2000)

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.

Director:

Danny Boyle

Writers:

John Hodge (screenplay), Alex Garland (novel)

Stars:

Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel York, Patcharawan Patarakijjanon

7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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
Apichart Chusakul	...	Senior Farmer (as Abhijati 'Muek' Jusakul)
Sanya 'Gai' Cheunjit	...	Farmer
Kaneung 'Nueng' Kenia	...	Farmer

Storyline

Garland's novel centers on a young nicotine-addicted traveler named Richard, an avid pop-culture buff with a particular love for video games and Vietnam War movies. While at a hotel in Bangkok, he finds a map left by his strange, whacked-out neighbor, who just committed suicide. The map supposedly leads to a legendary island paradise where some other wayward souls have settled.

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Plot Keywords:

map | paradise | island | travel | love | 

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Taglines:

It's the experience that matters

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English French Swedish Thai Croatian

Release Date:

11 February 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

La playa

Filming Locations:

Bangkok, Thailand

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£2,418,321 (UK) (11 February 2000)

Gross:

$39,778,599 (USA) (5 May 2000)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Figment Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During filming, a boat accident endangered the life of several crew members, including director Danny Boyle and Leonardo DiCaprio. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt.

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Goofs

After the shark attack there is a large trail of blood on the beach.... then all of a sudden it's pure white again.

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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.

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Connections

References The Deer Hunter (1978)

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Soundtracks

"Smoke Two Joints"
Written by Chris Kay and Michael Kay

User Reviews

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.