The Beach (2000)

The Beach is easily one of the strangest movies I've ever seen. Mostly this is the result of it's inability to decide what kind of movie it's going to be. At the start The Beach seems like Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, Slumdog Millionaire) is directing Leonardo DiCaprio through an edgy travel/adventure movie. The soundtrack and cinematography for this opening section are done in such a way that you feel you're watching the start of a horror movie, giving you a not-so-sneaking suspicion that something sinister is afoot. After DiCaprio and his two French companions discover the titular beach, you believe that said sinister something is that you've been tricked into watching a crummy island soap opera. After far too long of that, the movie transforms again: this time into something strange, psychological, and borderline brilliant. But then The Beach's cop out ending allows it to avoid conclusions, consequences, or doing anything interesting.

The one thing that stops The Beach from being a complete waste of a movie is Leonardo DiCaprio; this movie was filmed smack in the middle of his turn of the century metamorphosis. He's no longer the shallow pretty boy of Romeo + Juliet and Titanic, but he's also not yet as subtle or mature as we're now used to seeing him. To utilize the beach metaphor, here DiCaprio is testing the waters of actually acting, and is in the process of learning to swim. It's fascinating to watch him in this stage of his development, even if he occasionally flounders. For me this made up for the fact that Danny Boyle was unable to create a direction, an ending, or any coherence with The Beach.