When I began to write this post, I thought I would focus on one of my favorite films by the director/writer team of Danny Boyle and Alex Garland, The Beach. This was before I caught one of they're newest films, Sunshine. Needless to say, I was impressed; so I decided to instead feature the entire repertoire of the, in my opinion, perfect, combination of film making talent. So, let us begin with the film that started it all, The Beach. The year was 2000 and we were all reeling from the panic that ensued in preparation for Y2K which, as you remember, didn't happen. But that's besides the point. Let's see where were we... 2000, and Leonardo DiCaprio had come off of such performances as Titanic, The Man in The Iron Mask, and my favorite The Basketball Diaries. I remember the first time I saw the movie, it changed my life. Well, that's a little over dramatic, let me rephrase... It changed my movie life. The film, set in the near paradise of Koh Phangan, Thailand, featured the story of a young man, in search of paradise. Some would say, and by "some" I mean "I", that "paradise" is just a word in place of "enlightenment". This was one of the first appearances of Garlands dabbling with the Metaphysical spectrum. In his search for "paradise" Richard(DiCaprio) finds two very important things, a woman and a perfect pradisial retreat from society, the so-called "Beach". However in this quest for paradise, Richard discovers one fundamental truth of happiness and of "paradise"... it doesn't last forever. These ideas of enlightenment and non-permanence, not to mention the placing of the story in Southeast Asia, make it one giant symbol for Buddhist ideas and of course "Man's search for happiness/love/a meaning in life/... well you get the point". Now, the novel(written by Garland) conveyed these themes beautifully with every tool available to the modern day author, and many would swear that these ideas could not fully translate to film. Enter Danny Boyle. The movie, although not a critical or a box office success, gained a minor cult following and a die hard fan base for the duo. Boyle had previous cult success with my third favorite Boyle film, Trainspotting. The next film by the team completely shifted genres and temporarily swayed the themes away from the metaphysical. You probably all saw this next film, I know I did(and it's my least favorite by the two), 28 Days Later. Now, I don't have as much to say about this one for two reasons, there was no book to draw ideas from and second, I'm not a big horror fan, but of all horror films this was my favorite. A box office success, 28 days firmly grabbed the public's attention. I will finish this part of the post for now, but I assure you, the second post will be up ASAP. And next post: Sunshine and future projects.
DiCaprio in The Beach
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