The Beach (2000) review

Eager to have "new experiences," American Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio) travels to Bangkok by himself where he meets appropriately named Daffy (Robert Carlyle) who gives him a map to a hidden "island paradise," so Richard invites French couple Françoise (Virginie Ledoyen) and Étienne (Guillaume Canet) to accompany him (which they do with no questions asked) and when they finally get there (following a long swim) it turns out to be an isolated commune run by Sal (Tilda Swinton) ... but trouble arises once strangers show up.  In typical fashion, Boyle can't resist filming it in his usual hyperactive style (with non-stop dance/electronica music and Leo  transforming into a video game character), and while the scenery is quite serene (the cinematography is by Darius Khondji) whatever point it's trying to make about society gets muddled in the process: in the section where Richard and Sal row into town for supplies, they mock the hedonistic Western tourists for their obnoxious behavior, but that isn't entirely different than what they're doing (basically squatting in a country that isn't their own).  What particularly made me irate was how, after some of the islanders were critically injured by a shark attack, the rest of them became "sad" because their dumb (and arguably unsustainable) fantasy world was suddenly "tainted" by reality: boo-frickin'-hoo.  They needed to go home and fill out those résumés: it's wage slavery time!