The Beach ~ Lost in Adaptation 

I drank everytime Dom confused Taiwan with Thailand, now I’m dead, I write this from the great beyond

I was working for my college’s student newspaper around the time of Trainspotting 2 came out, and attended a press screening in Philadelphia where Danny Boyle was doing a Q&A. Someone asked him what his least favorite film to direct had been, and he immediately answered “The Beach”, because he realized halfway through the production that he hated the characters.

The movie: Colonizing natural spaces is a bad thing! The movie: (destroys a beach to make it look more cinematic)

My favorite thing about Lost in adaptation is every now and then I get to hear the story of a book or film that I find interesting but probably wouldn't actually read/watch myself.

The beach (Maya bay close to Phuket) wasn't destroyed by the film, although they certainly left a footprint. It was the ensuing tourism (and litter) that was destroying the corals, that led to a short term (that then turned longer term.. as covid hit) closure of 4 years, to help clean it up. It is now once again open to the public, but boats aren't allowed to go into the actual bay/cove. Source: I went there in 2011, and they were definitely still capitalizing on the fame of The Beach - although most tourists going seem to think The Beach was a nice story about an idyllic beach... not about a utopia gone wrong.

I'm so sorry Dom but every time you said Taiwan instead of Thailand I was giggling to myself.

Honestly, I feel like Ewan would've been better for the role of Richard than Leo. While Leo is genuinely a great actor, I feel that Ewan would've pulled off the "I am going butt fucking insane" aspect of the character better.

Literally the one thing I really remember from the book, aside from a general feeling of disquietude, is a chapter where everyone gets terrible food poisoning and vomits and sh*ts out in the open continuously and Richard slips in it and leaves a character to die, who doesn't but hates him thereafter. I remember it almost like PTSD; the in-depth descriptions stuck in my head so much. Yet it's not mentioned in the synopsis 😅

Would love an ANNIHILATION episode! The film is great, sure, but the book just hits different and is tonally and thematically completely alien. Vandermeer himself has said he enjoys the movie a lot, but would also like to see a more direct adaptation. It's much more of a psychological nightmare than a physiological one, coupled with an unreliable narrator.

Despite repeatedly mixing up two of my former homes, Taiwan and Thailand, you still get a like from me for this review. :D

So, this may be a fairly well known anecdote, but when Alex Garland was asked about changes between Annihilation's book and film, he stated that he deliberately didn't reread the book because he wanted to "adapt it like a dream of the book"

I remember the ad campaign for The Beach. They definitely misrepresented the film as being more Blue Lagoon than Club Dread and I think that had an impact on how well it was received by the general audience. I don't think the film is nearly as bad as its RT score would make you think, though.

I see some resemblance to the 1994 Star Trek DS9 episode Paradise in this story. A paradise supposedly untouched by the civilized world, one of the settlers dies because the others refuse to get outside help, a woman gone mad with power and more.

Was I the only one who thought this would be a video about M. Night Shyamalan's Old? Lol

I saw the movie and was blown away by the sense of adventure and the turn it took. I read the book later and loved it more than the movie. Great breakdown, but one thing about the book. Their mental breakdown at the end was due to not just the violence but also that Richard, Jed and the group dosed the entire camp with drugs hidden in their food. They were tripping balls when the events with the farmers happened, which is why they mentally broke down. Love the channel.

Dom I know you just posted this but the island is off the coast of Thailand, not Taiwan

For some reason, why I saw the thumbnail, I thought you were doing the movie "Old". In my defense, "The Beach" would work just as well for that movie! Shows how much this movie has stayed in my personal consciousness lol. Also yay for Asterix! To be fair, I only know about the comics because my dad is German lol, but they're a lot of fun.

One of the biggest things left out of the movie is the whole underwater tunnel through the rock wall, where Richard almost dies.

The filming of this movie was a big news in Thailand at the time. Especially for changing the beach front of the island they were shooting the movie. Which was a tourist spot. Afterward, there were news that the movie crew didn't restore the beach back to it's original state as promised. I can't say for sure what happen after that. Since that seems to be the last local news I remember about this movie.

Apparently Dom and I are about the same age, as I was roughly 13 when this movie came out as well! I was in the midst of my Leo crush days and insisted on seeing it in theaters without any idea of what it was about. I barely remember any of it, especially not the hallucinating being in a video game part (which you would think would have stuck out). I had no idea it was based on a book!

It's just funny to think of all the tween girls sneaking into cinemas to see DiCaprio shirtless, then being faced with a depressing, drugged up and violent critique of tourism. Honestly though I bet most people who grew up back then remember the tie-in song by All Saints more than the movie. Very well made bit of pop music.

I recently rewatched this for the first time since I saw it in theaters as a teenager. The most interesting aspect, to me, was how Leonardo's performance reflected his later career. He starts the movie as the sweet young heartthrob and slowly unravels into a screaming maniac.

I completely agree with you about Dredd.

I only remember this film as the reason Pure Shores by All Saints was a popular song, was hoping Il Neige would use that for inspiration!

ah, the age-old "but im better than them" reasoning. loved il neige's song in this one, super catchy~!

It took me until pretty much the end of the review to realize I've actually watched this movie once! It must have been around when it originally came out, I was 5 or 6 then, and watched it along with my older cousins. What made it click for me was having the scene where Leo makes the bamboo traps (and later one of the farmers actually falling on it) stuck on my mind since then!!! Now I finally know the context of that disturbing image :)

Oh god...the flashbacks... As someone who watched this film when I was nine basically by accident...all I could remember was sharks, murder and blackmail sex..I was scared of all the characters and regularly had nightmares about them Kinda wanna rewatch it now that I'll actually understand what's going on

It's a miracle I never saw this movie back then, considering the ads were everywhere and Leo was one of Hollywood's hottest properties fresh off Titanic fame. The only thing that's ever stuck with me regarding this movie was the bit of trivia mentioned at the end here - the fact that the titular Beach ironically became a victim of overtourism.

Il Neige killed it with the ending song this time. They always do but this time was amazing.

Sad to hear about the beach damage. This was one of those films I remember hearing positive word-of-mouth about, but really not caring for once I actually saw it.

Not proud of myself for being such a mark for the recurrent Baby Shark jokes XD

After watching this, I think The Beach would gain more traction nowadays and spark more discussion. Anti-colonialism is bigger than ever.

The irony that the screwed up to beach is my favourite part.

Wow delighted to see you cover one of my favourite books! I read it for the first time when I was a 15 year old edgelord and Richard is my life's classic example of someone that you are NOT supposed to idolise being idolised until I reread the book at 22 and thought "what was I thinking?!" Hilarious given, as you rightfully stated, that he is written as an intentional unlikable character.

Karl Urban has gone on record saying Alex Garland also directed a lot of Dredd.

Fun fact I learnt about the novel the beach from British animated sitcom Bromwell High where the school's R.E teacher Mr. Beale was said to have have wrote the novel. Another fun fact is that Bromwell High was written by budding crime author Richard Osman.

God, Dredd. So. Good. And apparently, there's some question about the whole "The Raid came first" - turns out the writers of The Raid have admitted later that they got a sneak peek on the script to Dredd and wrote and filmed theirs while Dredd was still being developed. So technically Dredd came first and The Raid borrowed from it. Alas, the trouble of high budget slow movie making versus low budget filming on a weekend...

Speaking as a fellow Brit, my main memory of this movie was that Leo DiCaprio was in it, and AllSaints were paid to awkwardly shoehorn a reference to it into the chorus of an otherwise unremarkable and unrelated song. A song which is now going to be droning in my head for the next week until I finally dislodge it by virtue of a biro in the ear. So, thanks for that.

I've never seen this film or read this book but whenever it gets brought up I get Pure Shores in my head. Great song, best All Saints song

You are always a snappy dresser, but today's vest and tie combo are absolutely fantastic! (I love the 'texture' combination.)

I watched this movie back when i was 12. It came in a huge box of movies my uncle didnt want anymore.

Two college roomies and I saw this in the theater. One friend, an avid movie buff, was in the middle of a HUGE fight with her boyfriend wanted to get out of the house. Afterwards, she felt more relaxed and said The Beach was exactly the distraction she need. My other roomie and I, uttlerly stressed after a week living with someone who was constantly sobbing or yelling on the phone, did NOT find the movie restorative. At. All. (Sidenote: the friend and her BF worked things out and have been married about 20 years. They seem content).

15:30 Sounds like the DS9 episode "Paradise" ('94). Pretty sure that was an inspiration, too. Closer to that than Lord of the Flies

You should cover “heart of darkness” a story I seen loosely adapted basically just the plot structure Apocalypse now Spec ops the line Ad Astra

I thought you already did this one, but I was thinking about the movie Old. When I see the name "The Beach" my mind just automatically adds "That Makes You Old" to the end of it.

Hey Dom, hope you're well!

Aww I read the book years ago, I remember liking it. I remember liking the film as well but mostly because it was pretty and I was a quite young. Sad that so many tourists ended up going to the filming location and ruining it.

Dammit Dominic, my want-to-read list is long enough, but with every episode you describe nearly every book you cover so well that I end up making my list longer 😁

My friend was in Thailand three years ago[before the pandemic], and there are regular cruises to this beach, like a boat one way, 30 minutes for sightseeing, and a boat back, so now it's open. Not sure about the cost but it wasn't really pricy, and each cruise had about 30 people

Credits music on point 🤘❤😎

Ooh! I hope you do an episode on Annihilation. Absolutely fantastic movie, but I wonder how much of the message was from the book. And how much it really borrowed from Lovecraft's Colour Out of Space

Great video. I remember seeing the film back then but didn't remember anything that happened. It's also nice to see something referencing Asterix&Obelix. Americans sure miss out on fun stuff with all that superhero stuff around.

2:37 "Geom Kane"... Dom, you're trying very hard and we love you

I do love that the lost in adaptation of the Alex garland book occurred on top of the release of his new film Men

"Guillaume" is pronounced "Giyome" with a hard g live in "give" ^^ And yeah Guillaume Canet is a big thing in France XD

The bar graph is really appreciated. Nice work.

Both the novel and the movie take place in Thailand, not Taiwan. (refer circa 0:42) (also 2:52) (also 17:19) I was in Thailand in 1996... 40% of the tourists had a finger jammed into The Lonely Planet Guide to mark their page... the other 60% had their finger in The Beach novel.

I watched this film as a teen and the only scenes I remember was the video game part and the "let's put this dying guy somewhere else so he doesn't bother us" part.

I read the book about ten years ago. Thought it was a nightmarish fever dream; loved it!

I think there's an important difference between "touched by humanity" and "touched by civilization". I doubt anyone would blame early cavemen for "destroying nature". Ultimately, it's sort of a gradient, but there's also a definite line somewhere - obviously "bringing a bulldozer to a beach" is firmly in the "touched by civilization" region. Still, by defining this, it becomes clear to see how a group may believe themselves "above it all" with actual merit.

amazing movie! Paradise is not a place you can go to, but a moment in life when you feel that you belong, once you find it it lasts forever!

I love how you are always making small improvements…the graph with your poll results makes it way easier to quickly grok.

I really hope Dominic covers Ms. Brisby and the Rats of Nimh at some point. That book/movie was a huge part of my childhood.

This story sounds like quite a trip, but as always I enjoyed your analysis of it.

My body may be present... but my soul is on the beach.

the funniest thing about this is book is that if you're backpacking asia you'll 100 % see someone reading it. also where does he do his polls

This was a really interesting episode. I might have been too young when it first came out to know anything about it, but it went in a direction I didn't quite expect

Hold up, a Sharkie and George reference?! I thought I was the only one who remembered that cartoon! It was literally one of the first Cartoon Network shows I remember watching when I was little. I can't believe I randomly found someone else who knows of its existence.

…For some reason I lived my entire life thinking that The Beach was a standard romance movie, not a closed-circle thriller. >.> Having young Leo Di Cap and Guillaume Canet in it probably didn’t help.

Jesus, You Tube did not show this to me until today, 4 days AFTER you uploaded it! I'm subscribed and have the stupid bell turned on!

I have a question about the book (which I haven't read). Is it set in Taiwan or Thailand? I'm a bit confused due to the interchanging usage of the word Taiwanese. I'm wondering if you mean Thai? Other than that, another wonderful and interesting video. 😁

Always worth it to watch to the very end, this time in addition to the cat clips, tongue twists and a banger of an end credits song I got to pause the video for a couple of seconds while I went "wait, indigo?"

My cats and I are always excited when you upload!

The Dom changes the name of the country from Thailand to Taiwan in a worse change to book than anything the movie did. :)

I remember liking both movie and a book but I was still in school back then

PLEASE DO SILENCE OF THE LAMBS!!!

I remember loving the book when I first read it in '98, it was perfect for my 15 year old mind. And I love the film, I also read Tesseract by Garland. I think both the film and book are underrated, the film, unfortunately was hit by the Titanic backlash that was still going when this film came out

May i once again say how much i love the ending songs!

The beach isn’t closed to the public. They closed it for about two years to fix it up and now it’s open

Not to play the lit pedant, but the titular beach is located on an island off the coast of Thailand, not Taiwan. Would highly recommend the original novel, btw. I'm quite a slow reader, but remember blasting through it in just three days.

That All Saints song was a banger, though.

13:15 my dude, the reason they went all cannibally and frenzied was because richard and the folks trying to escape spiked everyones fermented drinks. you also forgot the earlier scene where rich gives everyone food poisoning and there is a literal river of shit involved lol. I hated the adaptation to film, i really enjoyed the beach as a novel, i think it got me at the right time in my life. I might have to revisit it. the only thing they got right was sal's casting imho

Danny Boyle also did the incredible TRANCE about a painting heist with James Macavoy and the gut wrenching adaptation of Frankenstein trading Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch.

we had to read+watch this in school and i'm still traumatised

I always, always love the endings songs but--I think this one is now my absolute favorite. It was perfect! lol

Never saw it but I'll watch anything by you!

If anyone remembers , in the sequel of Bridget Jones , there's a guy and her friend (Bridget Jones) with the book " the beach" on their way to Thaliand .

Great episode!

Thanks for creating!

Awesome as always

I think abt this movie a lot. Tilda Swinton is one of my favorite actors and I try to watch as many of her films as I can. I saw this back when IFC was an independent film channel instead of whatever its turned into.

the soundtrack is a banger too

I commend you for the Sharky & George reference. It made me smile.

now I can't help but wonder, what this movie would hve been like with Evan McGreggor....

This movie seems much more interesting than I gave it credit for, I suppose I'll take a gander!

this was the movie that ended my years-long obsession with leo. thanks, the beach!

Looking sharp Dom.

That cat is beautiful.

Nicely done.

Thank you as always… You are the best