THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 27, 1995 TAG: 9503250042
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
GREED IN Glasgow . . . or cash is breaking up that old gang of mine.
At one point, one of the trendy flatmates of this ultra-simple caper moans that the grave they dug was not deep enough.
That wasn't the only thing.
The doings here are pretty predictable and pretty ordinary.
Still, ``Shallow Grave'' is not without its homage to Hitchcock in its mischievous bent toward macabre humor. At the same time, it has a bit, just a very tiny bit, of the gory humor of ``Pulp Fiction.''
A cocky journalist, a nerdy pen-pusher and a female doctor all share a flat in the Scottish city. Looking for a new roomie, they interview a half dozen as they reveal to us how ``in'' and cruel they are. They freely ridicule those they feel are not as ``cool'' as they feel themselves to be. They finally choose a roommate, but he is with them only briefly when he, literally, drops dead.
After finding a huge amount of cash in his room, they decide to keep quiet, bury the body and keep the loot. That's where the shallow grave comes along, to go with the shallow plot.
Meanwhile, horribly sinister bad guys are on the trail. They drown one man in a tub. They freeze another to death. We can only imagine what might happen when they catch our guys.
Juliet (Kerry Fox) may just have become a femme fatale as she plays one man against the other. David (Christopher Eccleston), the nerd, becomes a superman. In the movies' eeriest scene, he hides in the attic, boring holes in the ceiling to spy on his former friends. Alex (Ewan McGregor), originally the most unreliable, turns out to be the least corruptible.
As the first feature film of Danny Boyle, this import from Scotland is a little curiosity that, given its out-of-town reviews, is surprisingly simple. ILLUSTRATION: GRAMERCY PICTURES
From left, Kerry Fox, Ewan McGregor and Christopher Eccleston try to
find a new roommate in ``Shallow Grave.''
MOVIE REVIEW
``Shallow Grave''
Cast: Christopher Eccleston, Ewan McGregor, Kerry Fox
Director: Danny Boyle
MPAA rating: R (flashing nudity, gore, language)
Mal's rating: **1/2
Locations: Pembroke in Virginia Beach
by CNB