The Beach

Director: Danny Boyle

2000 / 119min / 35mm

A sort of Lord of the Flies for the jet-setting, designer drug-popping leisure class, Boyle’s adaptation of Alex Garland’s novel is a steamy thriller set in motion when Leonardo DiCaprio’s backpacking beach bum accepts an invitation to a pristine island in the Gulf of Thailand, his arrival in the fragile social ecosystem of permanent vacationers and marijuana farmers initiating a series of events that stir up trouble in paradise. “The Beach is a very sharp movie, and I always felt the story was like a blade that cuts and causes you to bleed: there’s blood on the sand and sharks in the water, and the people themselves behave like sharks. All this comes together to give you the look of a clear blue sky over a sandy beach that’s stained red. It’s a hyper-realistic image.” —Darius Khondji

Distributor: Walt Disney Studios/20th Century

Part of Radical Chiaroscuro: The Work of Darius Khondji