The Beach

Guest Post by Sir Lancelot:

Hello world.

 I am Clinton's older more cynical brother who believes in the nobility of film. That is all that needs to be said.
  I am contributing a perspective on Leo DiCaprio's "the Beach". Unfortunately, I had to catch this one on DVD. I think maybe it was the late nineties and the thought of being caught watching a Leo movie during those days made my balls retreat. Keep in mind, his two previous movies were Disney's "The Man in the Iron Mask" and "Titanic". Certainly not the most masculine of movies and may have contributed to the lack-luster performance of "the Beach" at the box office.
   Nonetheless, this movie 180-ed me for Leo. I don't know if it was how he introduced himself - "My name is Richard... so what else do you need to know? None of that shit matters" or him walking through the market and being offered to drink snake blood by a street hawker mocking him for wanting everything to be just like America. It was new and different, a little cheesy but unique.
  There are all the typical conventions of an adventure movie, 1st person narration, exotic location, forbidden treasure, a gorgeous French girl, and they all deliver.
 The movie revolves around a young adventurer looking for something else. Richard really doesn't know what he is after, but he knows what he is trying to escape from - the ordinary. While he is wandering, he meets the local escaped mental patient. They share some smoke and he tells Richard a fairy tale about the perfect beach hidden on a secret island. Richard dismisses this as the ramblings of someone whose "eff'd in the head". Daffy (the psycho) rambles on about the island and the scene fades. One little jewel I haven't seen until watching this scene again recently was Daffy somehow knew Richard's name, though I never saw them introduce themselves.
  The majority of the plot has been done a million times, but the reason I think it endures with me is all the psychotic breaks that happen. Daffy becomes Richards guardian angel, Richard becomes the new defender of the island, residents let one of their own rot alone in the woods, and there is a video game. I know I know, you don't get the video game part. Just let it be. I think the psychological aspects of this movie are what distinguish the Beach in my mind. 
French boobies are good too.


The Beach gets a NBM rating of Awesome.


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