Customer Reviews

Shallow Grave (Widescreen/Full Screen)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

What will happen when three affluent and professional friends and flatmates,a journalist,a doctor and a chartered accountant,find a corpse and a suitcase full of money? What choices will confront these educated and intelligent people and what are the consequences of their choice?
This is the story of Shallow Grave, the debut long feature of Brit Danny Boyle, and the first of his many collaborations with writer Dr John Hodge (MD not PHD).
More specifically,it is the story of two men,Ewan McGregor and Chris Eccleston and a woman, Kerry Fox who share a flat and a friendship that is obviously harmonious.Deciding to let a fourth room in their large flat,they begin to interview likely candidates with an air of haughty antagonism and playful sarcasm,until Mr Keith Allen himself drops by, mysterious but with ready cash and moves in.
Yet their new roommate's life is quite short, and he is discovered dead, but with a lot of cash. The money of a man who came out of nowhere, had no visitors and apparently will not be missed too soon, is quite tempting to keep. This is the dilemma the three friends faced in a very tense moment that pierced right through their conscience.
In John Boorman's Excalibur, Merlin the magician, granting the wish of a knight to change his appearance into another for carnal reasons,says in a memorable quote ' The future has taken root in the present'.
This is exactly what happened in Shallow Grave the very second our heroes decided to keep the money, depose of the body (in parts, a task that traumatized them), and live happily ever after.So they thought!
How wrong they were, for crossing the threshold of their moral and ethical obligations towards their dead roommate,will forever change their lives and they will pay dearly for it.
Greed will inevitably be the driving force that will govern their lives and relationship from then on,pull them apart,reduce them from highly respectable members of the society to frightened and paranoid ,even pathetic creatures, that live mainly by their instincts.
Of course no one is truly mysterious and although we really do not know who really was the character of Keith Allen and where is the source of that money, we do get an idea that his line of work did not involve paying taxes, and two of his not so nice chums soon enough,looking desperately for him, find their way to the flat, obviously not thinking of tea and scones.But they are murdered and deposed of.
These bodies soon resurface (no crime is perfect as the cliche goes)and this will wet the appetite of the subtley clever police, with the chief inspector and his detective (played by John Hodge himself) who rightly suspect foul play.
All this lead to a tragic end, that was in a way inevitable the moment the lure of cash (even for people who really do not need it) turned into a possessive demon. It is a frightening thought of course, because no matter how much we claim superior moral ground and are indignant, we can never anticipate the choice we will make, facing a similar situation.
This makes Shallow Grave a little gem of a movie, a product of talented group of friends (and not of the studio machine)who contributed their effort to give us a film that is quite original and with a message that is as old but poignant as life itself. It is about the consequence of our choices, and the path it will take us once we cross that threshold.

Three obnoxious flatmates put scores of potential tenants through their paces before selecting a fourth resident for their humble hipster abode. Soon he is dead from a (self-inflicted) drug overdose but he left behind wads of cash that they want. Now to dispose of him and carry on!!!

They draw straws of who will actually dismember and bury him. It is gross!!! This division plus the knowledge of their horrifying secret slowly tears the flatmates apart. It is an interesting process to watch -- particularly when one moves into the attic and drills holes into the ceiling to spy on the two he left downstairs (shudder!!!!)

its British and its awesome. Ewen McGregor is the best in this and he offers a character that is fun to watch. Christopher Eccelston's nose is the gem also, and he has a slight resemblense to my friend Marcus, sorry MArcus but its true and Kerry Fox is hot, hot, hot.a great paranoia film with a lot of body cutting up and Danny Boyle( A Life Less Ordinary, 28 Days Later, The Beach adn Trainspotting) is a great director. the end where Eccelston gets the nife in the neck and McGRegor tricks Fox into thinking she has the money, just great

SHALLOW GRAVE is the kind of movie you really want to love. I think I would have if I had never seen FARGO. There is this sub-genre called the revenge film, some of them are really good, like the aforementioned FARGO, or bad, like the long an incredibly slow moving A SIMPLE PLAN. SHALLOW GRAVE is right in the middle of those two.

There are three friends. Alex (Ewan McGregor, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones) the loud funny one, David (Christopher Eccleston, The Others) the serious one, and Juliet (Kerry Fox, Welcome to Sarajevo) the sexy one. They share a flat, and as the film opens they a looking for a new roommate. Enter Hugo (Keith Allen, 24-Hour Party People) the charming yet rough guy who needs a room. They let him move in.

The movie then asks the question what if your new roommate died? What if you found a suitcase full of money? Would you call the police? Would you keep the money? Would it tear you up inside?

The films early moments are really good. Especially as they interview prospective roommates. But, when the film plunges into the dark stuff, you begin to doubt character motivations. You can suspend disbelief for a few moments, but there is a nagging feeling that something isn't quite working. I couldn't put my finger on why.

Director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) paces the film just a little on the long side. I spent 90 minutes with these characters but I felt like I needed to know more about them. I wanted to see there descent into darkness a little clearer, unfortunately I didn't.

But for what it's worth Ewan steals the show. He has such a good time with his part. I felt bad for him especially since he's the only one who's continually being maimed throughout the film. He's smarter than the other characters, but he hides it so well you begin to doubt if he really is that smart.

Kerry Fox's Juliet is too subtle for my taste. You can see what she's doing. The screenplay knows what's she's going to do and I've seen enough movies to know what she's going to happen to her, still her character on a whole is to subdued, and little unbelievable.

Eccleston's character David seemed more flawed than the other two. His paranoia is drawn so big, that it fights with David's soft character from the beginning of the film. The screenplay motivates him to act this way. By not revealing enough of David character in the beginning, his motivations throughout the film feel like contrivances of the screenplay and not like true characterization.

Shallow Grave is not a bad movie. It's not a great movie. It's an okay movie with a nice twist ending. At least this one doesn't come from a mile away. If you have a few hours, you might just want to dig up a copy of A SHALLOW GRAVE.

Nice film here. Not for the main stream but... A well set up story thats fun to watch,it features great character development combined with a really good ending. Yes Ewan McGregor is quite fun in this part but so is the rest of the cast, Nice sound track as well.

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).

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!

They sould put this on scifi and let a grow-up watch it with you I did't. I went O, my god no away he did that. In the movie a guy die's in the bed and three roomates fine him in the room dead. I am not going to tell you what happen's next go and get the movie yourself OK. I think (the night of the living dead) is like this moive but you don't fine dead people runing around with there head's gone. The cast play a good part in the moive that what I think do you? If you seen the (children of the corn) you got to see shallow grave. when I saw it once and I could not eat when the movie was on but now I can because I seen it already.

PS. Get to know your roomate you never know.

This was the first of the Boyle/McDonald/Hodge/McGregor filmic collaborations and what a fantastic debut! The story of three flatmates who discover their new flatmate dead and a wad of cash - it's a beguiling premise and one that would certainly give anyone second thoughts. It certainly doesn't spoil the plot to say that they take the cash but there the problems begin.
The three leads are uniformly excellent with Ewan McGregor showing the talent that would push him to movie stardom (and I don't mean "that" talent, for all you watchers of The Pillow Book and Velvet Goldmine). However it's Kerry Fox who is the most outstanding here and proves what a consistently underrated actress she is. Her character plays a game with both of her male flatmates, trying to make sure she is on the "winning" side.
There is plenty of evidence here of Danny Boyle's directorial finesse which is why Hollywood have come calling - if only he hadn't answered their call..................

If you liked Trainspotting and Run Lola Run this movie is definitely for you. It's got a really fast pace, good beat and an interesting and twisty plot. It also got Ewan McGregor (enough said). The ending is really good too.