Shallow Grave

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Summary: The Pardoner's Tale, Retold
Review: This story is an updated version of The Pardoner's Tale, that old staple from The Canterbury Tales, which reminds us all of the consequences of greed and lust for money. Kerry Fox's performance is the clear standout here, and she really deserved a lot more attention for it. I believe this film was released ahead of its time... 1994. If it were to hit the screens now, it would have an immense response, especially now that Ewan McGregor's become a household name. The soundtrack is always pumping, and the twisted ending's especially memorable.

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Summary: People will do a lot of things to keep a lot of money
Review: Although there is no room on the name plate at the front door to their flat, Juliet Miller (Kerry Fox), David Stephens (Christopher Eccleston), and Alex Law (Ewan McGregor) are interviewing for a fourth, to rent out the red bedroom. However, their way of interrogating prospective flat mates makes it seem that they will never find a fourth wheel. Alex, the reporter, asks most of the insulting questions, the nicest of which is probably asking "When was the last time you heard these exact words: 'You are the sunshine of my life'?" But Juliet, the doctor, asks things like, "This affair you're not having, is it not with a man, or not with a woman?" while David, the accountant, likes to inquire, "How would you react, then, if I told you I was the Antichrist?" There is no way that anybody is going to get a passing grade from all three of this trio.

In fact, Hugo (Keith Allen) talks to only Juliet before he makes it to a dinner with the boys, where Alex wants to know if Hugo can pay for the flat (a large wad of bills suggests that he can) and David just wants to know if Hugo has ever killed a man (Hugo lies on this point). These answers are sufficient for him to move in, although Hugo is clearly a bit older than they are and is not as amused by the trio's wit as they are. However, the next morning Hugo is lying naked and dead in the red bed, the victim of an overdose. Alex immediately starts checking out everything that Hugo left behind, apparently never thinking that the police might want to take a look at things first. Just as Juliet is about to report the corpse, Alex finds the proverbial suitcase filled with cash. Immediately, Juliet and the boys are reviewing the situation.

The key to keeping the money becomes eliminating Hugo's body and the title of the film gives you an indication of how the trio plan to accomplish that particular task, although Alex knows enough about how bodies are identified to suggest a few surgical procedures to go along with the burial. This requires the purchasing of necessary supplies, a trip into the forest, the drawing of a short straw, and then returning to the flat to endure the questions of Detective Inspector McCall (Ken Stott), who seems to think there should be four people living there. However, the trio have another problem, in that all that cash apparently did not really belong to Hugo either, and there are a couple of blokes looking for it, and therefore, for them as well.

The three flat mates are eccentric enough for us to be entertained by the way they treat most of the other human beings that they come into contact with, but when Alex makes a point of going to far with his treatment of poor Cameron (Colin McGredie), one of the failed applicants from the film's opening sequence, and Cameron offers a pointed rejoinder with the toe of his boot, we readily admit Alex deserves it. This becomes an important part of the dynamic for "Shallow Grave," because while we certainly expect the bad guys to get their hands on the three flat mates before the police can put everything together, we do not expect the sharp turn the film takes at that point.

These characters are entertaining, but they are not sympathetic, so in watching how this one plays out we do not really have a rooting interest in which, if any of them, get out of this film alive. Although I know it came out four years later, "A Simple Plan" tells a similar story but with much more sympathetic characters. The question is the same: if a whole lot of money fell into your lap, how far would you go to keep it? Of course such narratives beg the question as to whether you should or not, because the drama, and the attendant horror, comes from how far people will go.

The other thing that "Shallow Grave" reminds me about is the bit from one of Bill Cosby's routine where he is talking about people doing cocaine. Cosby explains that people have told him that cocaine enhances things so that you become more of what you were and his rejoinder is, "But what is you are an a**hole?" That question is a totally legitimate one to ask with regards to this story line because these are not good people, and when they are put in a bad situation that becomes increasingly worse, it is not like there are any angels representing their better natures. This one gets pretty bad and if you want another cinematic reference tossed at you then think of the three way gun fight at the end of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly."

Just do not be distracted by the sarcastic wit of the principles into thinking that they are good people or that this is a comedy. The "funny" stuff is all relative and just because you laugh at what people say is no reason to make the leap to thinking they are good people. Besides, the director is Danny Boyle, known for both "Trainspotting" and "28 Days Later," so you knew this 1994 was not going to be morally uplifting. This is just another example nice little example of bad people doing bad things to each other.

Rating:
Summary: Tale of a trusty trio
Review: The setting for this film might be a small apartment in Quebec, but it's a big apartment in Scotland, though old. Probably Edinburgh. The flatmates are young, relatively sophisticated and have promising careers and employment. There is nothing at all reminiscent of Kubrick's tedium in the direction. On the other hand it's a little like Polanski's Repulsion, and Pinter's The Caretaker. Paranoia and Menace. It's quite a lot like certain films by the Coens: Blood Simple and Fargo. There's even a touch of The Big Lebowski with the two policemen sitting on the sofa. The premise is original, the lines are sharp and pointed, the acting is lived in; the direction, the story development and the denouement are totally gripping, all the way. Still, something seems missing. Perhaps there's a flaw in the motivation; or, if not, then something lacking in the rationale behind the fatal decision to take the money. These yuppies may not be nice people, but they have professional jobs; they're well-educated and not stupid. There would just have to be some greater anticipation of what the consequences of their greedy grab is likely to be, as well as some greater and more intelligent deliberation of how to go about concealing their actions. It would be natural for them to face the business of how to split the cache, but this problem is just ignored. In fact, the whole plot hangs on this basic omission. If there is a satire here, on the short-termism of the yuppie morality of seize it when you get the chance, it needs to be just a little more thoroughly justified. After the event, the psychological interaction between the three is surrealistically intriguing; even the descent into periodic total lunacy of the up-tight accountant. Perhaps it might be argued that after their thoughtless decision, they simply couldn't think of what to do next. The ending is very neat --- but did the journalist survive, and pick up the loot later? Unlike his friends, he didn't actually kill anybody, after all. One star has to come off: the plot ends weren't knitted up quite as tidily and satisfyingly as they were in Blood Simple.

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Summary: Passafist Reviews Shallow Grave
Review: This was my third Ewan experience, and I must say, the most satisfying. Watch this with "Trainspotting" and "Moulin Rouge" and discover what all true Ewan Mcgregor fans already know....He is a most wonderfully versatile and brilliant actor(Not to mentioin absolutley adorable).

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Summary: Very clever!
Review: This was my first Ewan McGregor/Danny Boyle film... and I LOVED every second of it. The story is amusing, gripping, attention-grabbing and more; all of it is very Hitchcock-esque. I don't want to give away the plot, although from the other reviews I'm sure you can figure it out. Shallow Grave is a great thriller. All I can say is SEE THIS MOVIE!