Poor script makes for overcrowded ‘Beach’
By Mike Callahan Jr.
Staff writer
1 could tear the annoying pubescent
girls the instant I got out of my truck.
What could be more exhilarating for a
group of teeny-bopper girls on a Friday
night than sneaking into dream-boat
Leonardo DiCaprio’s latest R-rated
work, “The Beach.”
Oh, yeah -1 was stoked to look at a
shirtless Leo for two hours, while my
girlfriend’s opinion of my looks were
buried in the sand.
My attitude problem aside, director
Danny Boyle has crafted a visually
stunning, but sometimes downright
weird, adaptation of Alex Garland’s
acclaimed novel, “The Beach.”
Delivering a unique cross between
“The Blue Lagoon” and “Lord of the
Flies,” Leonardo is first to grace the big
screen playing Richard, a laid-back,
stylish American backpacker who has
obviously dropped out of school to
“suck in new experiences.”
One of those experiences creates an
odd opening scene where Richard is
challenged by a Bangkok local to drink
snake blood.
Attempting to make a statement for
the bravery of American tourists,
Richard takes the challenge. And I
almost threw up.
From the opening scene on, a whirl
wind of plot bulkiness emerges. At his
cockroach-infested hotel in Bangkok,
Richard makes a couple of essential
encounters. The first is with his neigh
bors to the left, a young French couple,
Etienne (Guilleume Canet) and
Francoise (Vitginie Ledoyen). The lat
ter is Richard’s future love bunny.
Lucky him.
His second encounter is with his
neighbor to the right, Daffy (Robert
Carlyle), a kooky Scottish character.
The odd duck, Daffy, passes ona map to
Richard that he claims will lead
Richard to a hidden island. So, after a
bit of traveling and a routine swim
through shark-infested water, Richard
and the French couple find paradise - or
so they think.
After fleeing from some ruthless
marijuana crop growers on the opposite
side of the island upon arrival, they
finally find “The Beach.”
With its 20 or more hippie-like
inhabitants comes a secret community
that eats fish, plays volleyball and
smokes enough weed to convince Frank
Stallone he can act. Oh, and they have a
lot of sex.
Throughout it all, writer John
Hudge is far too bulky in plot, trying to
tell about five stories at one time.
And victim to that problem is the
characters in the film. Little is shed on
2»The Beach
STARRING: Leonardo
' - DiCaprio, Virginia Ledoyen,
Guillaume Canet
DIRECTOR: Danny Boyle
RATED:R
I i i GRADE: C
FIVE WORDS: Stellar
hSm scenery saves bulky plot.
the personality of any of the characters.
The exception is Richard, who drasti
cally goes from an easy-going traveler
to a post-traumatic stress boy who con
vinces himself he’s at war in Vietnam.
For no apparent reason, Richard
goes out of his mind for about 30 min
utes before the closing scenes.But
despite how strangely his part was writ
ten, Leonardo pulled it off nicely. If
only the other actors were given a
chance to really act, then maybe the
film would swim into our emotions.
What becomes of paradise is quite
depressing yet blatantly inevitable.
After a few tourists that Richard left
a map for-arrive on the island, the Thai
marijuana farmers shoot them to death.
Immediately following those shootings,
the farmers storm to die hippie village
and demand the travelers leave, claim
ing the marijuana farm is in danger
because of all the people discovering
the island. Duh.
The most disappointing thing about
the film is the attempted love story. In
the love scene, with the moonlight
reflecting onto Rich and Francoise, the
camera techniques are awesome, but
the sex is pointless. The chemistry
between the couple is non-existent.
Much of the problem is because of two
things: Francoise’s poor English and
her battle for dialogue among the many
plots.
Technically, the film is stellar.
Darius Khondji’s camera techniques
are a thing ofbeauty, and I really dug the
“God’s View” camera when it was in
effect. Surfing throughout the film
musically is hard-hitting, UK-style
techno music. The suspense created by
this rapid-paced soundtrack is fitting.
The moral of the story, or stories, is
that paradise is only possible at heart.
No matter where you live, or how you
live, nothing is perfect. Including “The
Beach.”
Though they did try and cram too
much plot for 120 minutes, the film
does manage to be pretty entertaining
and a little intriguing.
As much as I hate to admit it, I was
impressed with Leonardo DiCaprio.
But it took a good 30 minutes to get that
“Leo glow” off my girlfriend’s face. Oh,
and by the way, Virginie Ledoyen is hot.
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Legendary band to show reggae roots
REGGAE from page 7
“The punks in England really
identified with it,” Van Pelt said.
“Culture is a band that punk-rock peo
ple will know about.”
In 1982, the group broke up, and
Hill recorded a solo album under
Culture’s name. But Hill’s solo career
would be relatively short-lived, as the
band reformed in 1986.
Since then, Culture has been
recording and touring steadily. In
1992 Kenneth Dayes left the band and
was replaced by Talford Nelson.
Afrine Hill has also joined the group
as a back-up vocalist.
Despite these changes, Hill said
the group has always been conven
tional.
“We’ve never differed from our
roots. We’ve kept an authentic sound,”
Hill said.
At the same time, Culture has also
been hailed for keeping up with cur
rent themes.
But as change comes, tradition
still sticks.
“We still do a lot of teaching for
the youths, too,” Hill said.
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differed from our
roots.
Joseph Hill
Culture band leader
Culture is also known for its ener
getic stage presence. Hill said the live
show is “fiery, full of fire. Out of the
fire comes our purity.”
Van Pelt agreed.
“Joseph Hill is really one of the
most energetic performers. You really
are riveted by watching him.”
Culture has been on its American
tour for about three weeks, and it
plans tp continue on for another eight
or nine.
With a rich and fervent tone, Hill
gave a message to those who will
attend the show.
“Get Ready! Grease your lips to
laugh, wash your hands to clap them,
open your hearts to make good joy, for
Culture is coming.”
_!k—_
