Three flatmates find their new roommate dead--with a briefcase full of cash. What happens next pits them against each other and reveals their true natures.
Subgenres: psychological, suspense
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A lot of films have examined what might be termed the "dark" side of human nature. Too many of those, thought, dramatize the subject in an attempt to either make a general point or to tell a larger story. It's a rare film that tells this kind of story as just a story--nothing grandiose--and does it well. Shallow Grave is smart and fearless filmmaking, a movie that makes extraordinary circumstances involving and utterly believable because it grounds those circumstances with perfectly realistic characters. Even when the plot gets a little rocky toward the middle, it's just in the interest of telling a good story. The talented cast is also no small reason for the film's success. Each actor shows his or her character's devolution (or evolution, depending on the character) in a different way, as betis reality, as well as good storytelling. Cut throughout with a streat of nasty balack humor, Shallow Grave is a film that rewards attention and intelligence in both its actors and its audience, right up until the film's ending, which I found entertaining, immensely logical, and entirely satisfying. (Dec 16, 1999) | ||||||
Director Danny Boyle, actor Ewan McGregor, and writer John Hodge would later work together on Trainspotting and A Life Less Ordinary.
