FOR A LITTLE SOMETHING DIFFERENT: This is a guest post from writer Andy Greene of the super fun site SEVEN INCHES OF YOUR TIME. Like Rob (the usual Beer and a Movie columnist here at FTS), Andy is a beer lover and movie fan. He loved the idea of contributing a Beer and A Movie post to help celebrate DanMay Boyle. Check out his picks after the break and make sure you stop by Andy’s site SEVEN INCHES OF YOUR TIME. Enjoy!
Unless you have snake blood handy (“Did you say snake blood?”) or access to the world’s strongest beer, Snake Venom, then you’ll want something refreshing, beautiful and dangerous befitting Bangkok to pair with The Beach and its wondrous white-sand locale.
This is a Leonardo DiCaprio movie that came out in the height of his sex symbol to young girls, so I think it’s fitting to enjoy the Make Out Session from Smog City Brewing (Torrance, CA). The pale ale is light on alcohol (clocking in at 4.8%), which is befitting a sessionable beer, and necessary if you plan to last long on the Beach.
In The Beach, Rich warns of “the haze of infatuation,” which is what I found myself in while having this beer. I normally prefer IPA’s, and a more robust and hoppy beer, but I wanted to French with the Make Out Session as much as Leo wanted to make love with Francoise. It has more hops to the proceedings than most pale ales, thanks to the West Coast hop infusion, providing additional depth.
The fruity, citrus and floral hops are perfect for the “beach resort for people who don’t like beach resorts.” “It seems like the best idea at the time,” because it’s low on alcohol, but has a kick, a dash of danger to the proceedings, that promises a mind-altering experience if you sink into the Make Out Session for too long. Or blue balls.
The Make Out Session Pale Ale is available at the Smog City taproom and local California pubs.
Speaking from experience, backpacking is an enlightening, inspiring and lonely existence, and Danny Boyle’s The Beach is a trippy and alluring look at lost travelers, who wish never to be found.
Leonardo DiCaprio is fascinating as Richard, a young American traveling by himself, full of vigor and advice (“Never refuse an invitation. Never resist the unfamiliar. If it hurts, it’s probably worth it.”). Yet he’s no better or smarter than the rest of us: “I’m like everyone else…scared of the big unknown.” That attitude and mindset is a perfect encapsulation of what you feel like on the road, saying yes to things you never thought you’d say yes to, finding yourself in unreal, uncomfortable, wonderful and mind-boggling situations, searching for meaning in this universe (and beyond), trying to find a new home, or a new happiness. We’re all looking to do something that’s never been done, trying to discover a life cheat, a shortcut, a secret to hold over humanity, an inevitably fruitless endeavor.
But as Boyle argues, paradise is fleeting, “an illusion,” as Rich’s descent into insanity attests, mirroring Daffy’s (an excellent manic turn by Robert Carlyle, before being Disneyfied in Once Upon A Time), the gatekeeper to Richard’s grand quest to The Beach.
The visuals in The Beach are arresting even today, fourteen years after its release in 2000, the urgency and rhapsody of Rich, Francoise and Ettienne’s circumstances emblematic of Boyle’s finest work.
Watching The Beach in a post-LOST world leads the viewer to expect more twists, turns, mystery, a big reveal, just like Rich himself, making it all the more profound when reality sets in and the status quo returns, no real answers found.
On the simplest level, drinking a refreshing beer befitting a tropical location like The Beach is all that’s required, and the Make Out Session delivers that in spades. But like The Beach, there’s more than meets the eye, there’s a lot under the surface. As much as this cult, or colony of travelers is not what it seems, and not as idyllic as it appears, so is Smog City’s Make Out Session. Don’t let the 4.8% ABV and its eminent sessionabilty fool you. The hops will get ya just the same, and you’ll be making out with your couch if you’re not too careful, as alone as Richard finds himself, even in a sea of new friends. “Game over.”
The Smog City moniker and the beer’s origin, is a harsh reminder of home, of America, of the pollution that sent us on our journey in the first place.
