SHALLOW GRAVE (1994)

‘I think your first film is always your best film. It may not be your most successful or technically most accomplished one, whatever. It is your best film in a way because you never, ever get close to that feeling of not knowing what you’re doing again. And that feeling of not knowing what you’re doing is just amazing piece of film making. It’s guesswork, inventiveness and freshness that you never get again. To prove it, watch ‘Blood Simple’ again. Coens are geniuses, but they never made a film as good as that one.’  – Danny Boyle

What I love about Danny Boyle film is it opens with certain level of energetic audio-visual sensory spark and like a cracker that went from spark to blast, it gives enough thrill to its audience’s senses. 'Shallow Grave' opens with rotating close up of a man confessing something about his friends. Quickly we turned out to the life of three roommates seeking another partner. They held weird interviews to select the one as per their tastes. Finally they find one stranger close enough to suit their needs. The fellow commits suicide in the locked room but left a lucrative bagful of dollars. What follows is just thrill ride of entertainment.

The film is not only directorial debut of Danny Boyle and actor Ewan McGregor but also debut film of its screen writer John Hodge who wrote few other Boyle films including brilliant ‘Trainspotting’ and up-coming ‘Trance’. The film was shot within thirty days duration with innumerable budgetary constraints and yet Boyle left his impression that extended in all his further films. It’s not we first time seeing something like this in film where people go greedy and turns towards unthinkable crime or get disposing the dead body  for the lucrative bagful of money; yes, we’ve seen enough of Coens films but than Boyle has a style and much of that reflects on form with its impressive camerawork and editing. That voyeuristic high angle shot from the loft, the flashy colors of objects and the way he portray the room is something which marks Boyle’s directorial touch. There’s difference between security and insanity and the film captures it so brilliantly with heightening the psychological tension from more than one side.

Recommended to all thrill lovers.

Ratings-7/10