“Shallow Grave” (1994) — Read Along
“You tell them there’s a suitcase full of money and you don’t want it!”
Long before Lancastrian filmmaker Danny Boyle accepted the role of artistic director for the conspiracy theorists wet dream that was the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games in London he’d helmed the epochal “Trainspotting” in 1996, the criminally underrated “A Life Less Ordinary” a year later before we all tiptoed with him into a new Millennium and on a secluded beach with Leonardo DiCaprio that was anything but ordinary but far less accomplished than the magnificent, era defining film of a ragtag bunch of Scottish friends stumbling upon a suitcase full of drugs and a whole load of unforeseen problems ahead. “28 Days Later” in 2002 remains THE zombie apocalypse film oft copied but never bettered before he melted everyone’s heart in 2004’s “Millions” and whilst I should love (but don’t) “Sunshine” 3 years later, Oscars galore followed a year later with “Slumdog Millionaire” before in 10 cinematic years he created, crafted and directed 5 absolute gems (“127 Hours”, “Trance”, “Steve Jobs”, “T2 Trainspotting” and “Yesterday”).
To say I’m a huge fan of the films directed by Danny Boyle would be a huge understatement even for me.
I wasn’t to know this when 30 years ago (if you wanted to feel old!) I saw “Shallow Grave” at the cinema and whilst the memory is rather unreliable these days I distinctly remember being dumbfounded by THAT ending and an ending I won’t be spoiling here or indeed in the extract of my original review that follows, and a spoiler free review I originally penned and published over a decade ago:
So what could possibly drive a sane, intelligent and reasonable young man with a burgeoning career in chartered accountancy ahead of him to go and live in a loft and drill spy holes in the ceiling in the process? Maybe it’s that god damn telephone that won’t stop ringing? Or perhaps it’s the dead body and the suitcase full of money? Or has the exciting world of chartered accountancy finally driven the poor man over the edge? All is revealed in Danny Boyle’s first cinematic treat and twenty years on from it’s initial release it still remains a genuine treat that is still fresh and vibrant and if you’re not smiling broadly at the end when Andy Williams’ “Happy Heart” is playing to a conclusion, then you’ve clearly missed the point.
Written by John Hodge in what was to become the first of many such collaborations with Director Boyle and funded by both Film 4 International and the Glasgow Film Fund, it’s a simple tale of friendship, split loyalties and how a totally unforeseen episode can change and destroy these friendships forever. “Juliet Miller” (Kerry Fox) is a straight ahead, fun loving Doctor whose tangled love life nominally includes her flatmate “David Stephens” (Christopher Eccleston), the aforementioned chartered accountant. They share a flat with “Alex Law” (Ewan McGregor) a journalist who takes nothing, including himself, seriously. The three are firm friends as well as flatmates and this is established immediately after the end of the “Killing Zoe” inspired opening credits, as Juliet, David and Alex interview potential new flatmates for their spare bedroom in their spacious Edinburgh flat. All three are professional, educated and enjoy their young lives, with Juliet constantly avoiding her tangled love life, David’s irreverent and sarcastic behaviour belying his staid professional career, brilliantly exemplified when describing himself as the “anti-Christ” to a prospective new flatmate, and Alex is the constant joker of the three and never taking anything seriously. After interviewing and accepting “Hugo” (Keith Allen) as their new flatmate, their lives will be changed forever.
All three headline roles were filled with relative unknowns twenty years ago but the success of “Shallow Grave” propelled all three into highly successful acting careers, particularly Ewan McGregor who continued to collaborate with Danny Boyle on the phenomenal “Trainspotting” and “A Life Less Ordinary” before working with Directors of the calibre of George Lucas, Baz Luhrmann, Ridley Scott and Tim Burton. Synonymous as his character Renton in “Trainspotting”, he excels in his first major cinematic role and brings much of the film’s dark humour to the surface with his irreverent ways “But Juliet, you’re a Doctor. You kill people every day”. Tellingly, it’s Alex who, in the midst of a spending spree, is the one enjoying his new found freedom, quaffing champagne and smoking cigars. But equally telling is his “Nothing will ever be the same again” pronouncement into his new and expensive hand held camera as he details his new found wealth and life.
Each of the three main characters have distinctive character arcs and none is displayed more starkly than Christopher Eccleston’s portrayal of chartered accountant David. He’s a reluctant conspirator, full of repressed anger and self loathing which is covered by his irreverent and sarcastic demeanour and an absolutely star performance from Eccleston and arguably the best of the three headliners. His explosion of anger and threats to put an unwanted admirer for the affections of his girlfriend into a “fucking bin bag” is another of the film’s true highlights. Eccleston would team up again with Director Boyle in “28 Days Later” and almost steal the film with a thunderous performance, and he’s perhaps best known for his Time Lord escapades in “Dr Who”. However, his portrayal of Trevor Hicks in “Hillsborough” moves me to tears on every watch and shouldn’t be overlooked for the master class in dramatic acting that it is. The nominal headline role in the film went to Kerry Fox and whilst not as “successful” as her male co-stars she has a voluminous record of TV and short films to her career credit. As “Shallow Grave” progresses so too does her femme fatale’ persona and an utterly perfect performance to boot.
Hopefully with your interest piqued dear reader, you now have a choice.
You can either:
(a) Read my entire review of “Shallow Grave” via the first link below.
(b) Treat yourself to my spoiler free reviews of any and/or all of the first 12 films in the career of British film director Danny Boyle, from “Trainspotting” to “T2 Trainspotting” 21 years later.
(c) Watch either of my Youtube or Rumble channel videos linked below (@TheBlackfordBookClub) of my reading of my own spoiler free review of the film, hence the “Read Along” moniker.
or (d) Treat yourself to any combination of the above or even (e) disappear to pastures new within our collective electrical Matrix of doom.
Oh, and (f) There’s a link below to Volume 7 of my “Essential Film Reviews Collection” packaged in my e-book and Kindle series on Amazon.
All 7 volumes are FREE to read if you have an Amazon Kindle “Unlimited” package.
Bless you for reading.
Original Review of "Shallow Grave"
"Danny Boyle and 12 cinematic gems"
"The Essential Film Reviews Collection" Vol.7
Thanks for reading. If you like the premise of this absurd idea of “Read Along”, then you might also enjoy:
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