Danny Boyle, 1994 (7*)
After Slumdog Millionaire, I decided to check out the few Danny Boyle films I hadn't seen, like the early (pre-Trainspotting) Shallow Grave. I expected some sort of crude cheap-looking B movie, like Bogdanovich's early Targets, which was cheesy and cheap in spite of a retiring Boris Karloff (playing "Orkov"). Instead what Grave showed me was a clever tongue-in-cheek parody of the best of Hitchcock's homicidal thrillers.
The film begins with three snobbish flatmates interviewing potential roommates for the fourth, empty bedroom. Ewan McGregor is perhaps the most obnoxious, Christopher Eccleston the more bookish and reserved (yet arrogant all the same), while Kerry Fox is slyly seductive while playing along with both guys. Due to her persuasion, they take in a mysterious writer, and find that he has a heavy suitcase full of quite a surprise.
Without any spoilers, let's just say at that point the games begin, and being a Boyle film, this includes homicides, bodies, police, and general mayhem disguised as urban normality, as the probable state of decay of modern life. I loved the comedic undertones to what is really a suspense film, Boyle's attitude here keeps the movie enjoyable on either level. Nothing deep here, but good entertainment, not to be missed by Boyle fans.
After Slumdog Millionaire, I decided to check out the few Danny Boyle films I hadn't seen, like the early (pre-Trainspotting) Shallow Grave. I expected some sort of crude cheap-looking B movie, like Bogdanovich's early Targets, which was cheesy and cheap in spite of a retiring Boris Karloff (playing "Orkov"). Instead what Grave showed me was a clever tongue-in-cheek parody of the best of Hitchcock's homicidal thrillers.
The film begins with three snobbish flatmates interviewing potential roommates for the fourth, empty bedroom. Ewan McGregor is perhaps the most obnoxious, Christopher Eccleston the more bookish and reserved (yet arrogant all the same), while Kerry Fox is slyly seductive while playing along with both guys. Due to her persuasion, they take in a mysterious writer, and find that he has a heavy suitcase full of quite a surprise.
Without any spoilers, let's just say at that point the games begin, and being a Boyle film, this includes homicides, bodies, police, and general mayhem disguised as urban normality, as the probable state of decay of modern life. I loved the comedic undertones to what is really a suspense film, Boyle's attitude here keeps the movie enjoyable on either level. Nothing deep here, but good entertainment, not to be missed by Boyle fans.
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