Twenty-something Richard travels to Thailand and finds himself in possession of a strange map. Rumours state that it leads to a solitary beach paradise, a tropical bliss - excited and intrigued, he sets out to find it.
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CinemaSerf
6
By CinemaSerf
We are lucky that the photography depicts some of the most beautiful scenery on Earth as the rest of this adaptation of Alex Garland's book is positively stodgy. Talking of beautiful things, Leonardo DiCaprio still has something of his "Romeo & Juliet" (1996) boyishness to him as he arrives in Thailand. After an encounter with an enigmatic Scotsman (Robert Carlyle) who doesn't last for long, he finds himself in possession of a map that sets himself and a couple of travelling companions on a quest to find to a beautiful paradise island that is well off the beaten track. After a few tricky experiences that remind them all that it's called a wilderness for a reason, they arrive to find that "Sal" (Tilda Swinton) has already set up camp and with what amounts to a naturist commune has strict rules for those who want to remain there. Initially this idyll works for all, but a trip to town for supplies redefines the relationship between "Richard" and his host, and his own stupidity leaves a path for others to follow. With tragedy and bloodshed now ensuing, the Elysian concept of their perfect existence is quickly compromised by both nature and the angry locals. To be honest, it's a pretty thin story at the best of times and it really does rely heavily on the pristine aesthetics to carry it for a great deal of it's almost two hour crawl time. Swinton is always a master at the slightly aloof, less is more, kind of characterisations and Leo himself has the camera enthralled. As as piece of storytelling, though, it's really nothing special beyond a wordy and ponderous exercise in sending a salutary message that the ever expansive march of tourism ought to learn to keep of the grass and leave nature in it's many different guises to live in peace.
