In this golden age of home viewing, the Criterion Collection still provides some of the best editions of the best movies ever released, usually with a rich selection of extras and often including audio commentaries (a feature they pioneered, and perhaps the greatest gift ever to film students and cinephiles alike). This column features one Criterion release per week, based on where my interests lead me and what’s available from my local public library.
Danny Boyle hit it big with Slumdog Millionaire (2008), which scooped up eight Academy Awards and grossed over $375 million, making it the most financially successful British independent film at that time. Slumdog Millionaire film is certainly a cultural phenomenon, for better or worse, but I think Boyle did his best work in his more modest works like Trainspotting (1996) and his feature debut, Shallow Grave (1994). For one thing, no other director could have made either film. For another, neither film wastes anything and I do appreciate tight construction (enough that I’ll ignore the “no caps” style of this release’s menu—one e.e. cummings is enough for the world).
The central characters in Shallow Grave are three young and successful friends—David (Christopher Eccleston) is a chartered accountant, Alex (Ewan McGregor) is a journalist, and Juliet (Kerry Fox) is a physician—who share a lovely flat in Edinburgh. They’re the 1990s equivalent of Bright Young Things and feel superior to everyone and everything. They need to find a fourth to share the flat but are so absorbed in themselves and what they believe to be their superior cleverness that they use the interviews with potential flatmates as an opportunity to make fun of the hapless applicants.
Eventually they settle on Hugo (Keith Allen), who claims to be a writer but unexpectedly expires due to an apparent drug overdose. They find a suitcase full of cash under the bed and decide to keep it and dispose of the corpse, as one does. Not that they’re hard up, but free money, whee! Except that where there’s a suitcase full of money there’s generally someone trying to track it down, and that someone is probably not going to shrug, say “finders keepers,” and good-naturedly exit the scene.
Few things are less fun than finding out you’re not as smart as you think you are, and when a character played by Peter Mullan is after you, you can guess the outcome won’t be pleasant. There’s also the issue of what sudden wealth can do to previously happy relationships, a favorite theme in literature and folklore. I won’t spoil what happens, except to say that this film is the blackest of black comedies and definitely not for the faint of heart. It also bears many of the hallmarks of a first film, full of bright ideas and unusual shots and directorial exuberance but also showing the signs of having been shot on a limited budget (reportedly some of the props had to be sold to get enough film stock to complete shooting). No matter: Shallow Grave is a promising debut and two years later Boyle would cement his reputation with Trainspotting, which realizes much of the promise implicit in this film.
One aspect of Shallow Grave bears particular mention: the dramatic visuals courtesy of cinematographer Brian Tufano, production designer Kave Quinn, art director Zoe MacLeod, and costume designer Kate Carin. The colors are eye-popping and nothing you see in the frame is there by accident, from the death scene inspired by Henry Wallis’ 1856 painting “The Death of Chatterton” to the general color scheme of the central characters’ apartment, which draws on the Edward Hopper painting “Hotel Lobby.” | Sarah Boslaugh
Spine #: 616
Technical details: 93 min.; color; screen ratio 1.85:1; English.
Edition reviewed: DVD
Extras: two commentary tracks, one by Danny Boyle and one by screenwriter John Hodge and producer Andrew MacDonald; a video interview with Christopher Eccleston, Kerry Fox, and Ewan McGregor; a 1992 (rather lo-fi) video diary by Andrew and Kevin Macdonald, shot while they were shopping the script around; “Digging Your Own Grave,” a 1994 short by Kevin Macdonald (whose features include the documentary One Day in September and the drama The Last King of Scotland); the film’s trailer; and a teaser for Trainspotting. The Criterion web site also mentions a booklet essay by Philip Kemp but it was missing from the library copy I viewed.
Fun Fact: Most of the film was shot in Glasgow for funding reasons, but the trio’s apartment is (for real) located in Edinburgh’s New Town.
Parting Thought: Thomas Chatterton came to an unhappy end and Edward Hopper is famously known as the painter of loneliness. Is using works referencing these artists as set design inspiration meant as a clue that things will not go well for the lead characters?
