SHALLOW GRAVE
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1995 Scott Renshaw
Starring: Kerry Fox, Christopher Eccleston, Ewan McGregor,
Keith Allen.
Screenplay: John Hodge.
Director: Danny Boyle.
Quentin Tarantino may prove to have a more profound effect on the immediate future of cinema than any other single individual. It's not just that other new filmmakers will be mimicking his style, though such recent fare as LOVE AND A .45 shows that he is already having an influence in that respect. No, Tarantino's most important legacy may be that films which until only recently would have seemed doomed to obscurity are finding enthusiastic distribution because the audience has spoken: dark, funny and twisted is *in*. The first beneficiary of the Tarantino Effect might be the British import SHALLOW GRAVE, a macabre little thriller with some shaky characterizations but a great look and feel.
SHALLOW GRAVE is the story of three friends sharing a flat in Glasgow: Juliet (Kerry Fox), a doctor with a penchant for avoiding her suitors; Alex (Ewan McGregor), a cocky journalist; and David (Christopher Eccleston), a quiet accountant. Their search for a fourth flatmate brings Hugo (Keith Allen), a secretive fellow who claims to be a writer. However, when the three friends find Hugo dead in his room one day of apparent heart failure, they discover at least one thing he failed to mention: a suitcase full of money. Rather than report the death, they decide to keep the money and dispose of the body. But as Hugo's "business associates" begin to come around and the police begin to get suspicious, the friendship proves considerably less than stable, as each one begins to become distrustful and to plot ways to get hold of the cash.
Thrillers like SHALLOW GRAVE depend on tight plotting, tense situations and atmosphere, and it hits about two out of three. The point behind disposing of the body is somewhat lost on me, since they could have reported the death without reporting the money, and a few late developments are glossed over so quickly that it's easy for the audience to wonder exactly what happened when. But it is mostly in retrospect that these problems appear, because SHALLOW GRAVE is a pretty intense piece of work. A pair of interviews with a police detective are extremely effective, as you begin to watch the roommates' resolve crumble, and Danny Boyle's direction highlights a marvelous set, the massive flat shared by Juliet, David and Alex. The lighting, the bold colors and the seemingly endless hiding places create a mounting paranoia that sweeps you in even as it sweeps in the characters.
Yet for all its tension and eventual excursions into viscera, SHALLOW GRAVE is essentially a character piece that examines how the fragile relationships between these three individuals are shattered by their shared secret. Christopher Eccleston has the meatiest part, a boring man who is changed forever by his role in the crime. Determined not to let his actions be for nothing, he retreats into the attic with the money, and becomes the most hardened of the three. Unfortunately, the other two leads are not nearly as well developed. Kerry Fox is savvy and manipulative as Juliet, but there is something missing, a bit too much left unsaid, particularly her refusal to deal with the men who call for her or approach her at social functions. Ewan McGregor's Alex has the best quips, and his bluster early in the film (especially during the opening montage where the friends grill applicants for the room) gives way to a convincing fear as he realizes the he has gotten in way over his head, but he too isn't given quite enough background. While the story could have been about how their mutual participation in this event changes all three, it ends up that David is the only one whose state of mind is examined in any depth.
Still, SHALLOW GRAVE works fundamentally because it keeps the pressure on. It is always only a matter of time before a "perfect crime" is revealed in its imperfection, and the multiple double- crosses are fun to watch. Though SHALLOW GRAVE could have been tighter and more psychological, Eccleston's intense performance and a few nasty little twists make it a thriller that keeps you watching, guessing and squirming.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 partners in crime: 7.
-- Scott Renshaw Stanford University Office of the General Counsel
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