"SHALLOW GRAVE" (1994) - (Hitchcockian Paranoid Video Risk) Who wants to be a millionaire? Well, based on Fox's latest television fiasco, we know that there are people who will marry for it, but we already knew that, right? For years, we have known that people are willing to kill for money, and we are never surprised to discover a film whose plot involves money and murder. "Shallow Grave" is a solid example of neo-thriller-noir, an entertaining, yet, sometimes, distasteful film from the talented director (Danny Boyle) of the brilliant but difficult "Trainspotting." Those of you who had problems with "Trainspotting" can be reassured that this Scottish film is much more watchable in a superficial vein and should meet the exacting standards of the ordinary American movie audience mainly interested in a bit of entertainment instead of a life changing experience. The same American audience that caused an awful mess like last year's "Double Jeopardy" to surpass $100 million, should take a risk on "Shallow Grave," which has enough to satisfy even the most sophisticated of critics.

The Story - Three elite, snobbish, professionals (an accountant, a doctor, and a journalist), roommates, interview flatmates to fill an empty room in their spacious yuppie apartment in Glasgow, Scotland. The furniture and look of the place could be right out of Pottery Barn. Each of the characters have their own hip peculiarities in clothing and attitude making you wonder how they could ever become roommates in the first place, however, they seem to share one common trait--selfishness.

After humiliating and abusing the prospective flatmates in an almost Seinfeldian manner, the three elite settle on a mysterious roommate who may meet their needs in more than one way. Once the new mystery man moves into his room, he overdoses leaving a suitcase full of money (a lot of money) behind in his personal belongings. Should they call the police? Should they keep the money? What do you think? Just one problem, what to do with the body.

The Review - My wife and I were pleasantly surprised by this risk several years ago. It is clever, amusing, and possessing of a sharp edge characteristic of very good neo-noir. Of course, there are scenes involving violence and gore that can be off-putting to some viewers.

Good modern or neo-noir as I have seen it called, must contain a fair amount of shocking violence combined with a touch of the disgusting gore present in the horror genre. Sometimes, the gore angle is overplayed making a neo-noir film unbearable (although I really liked "Romeo is Bleeding," for example, some viewers may have found a scene involving a skill saw too much to handle). Classic noir was a little more restrained, but today, movie audiences faced with uncensored news footage of real life violence have come to expect and, maybe, demand violence and the gore associated therewith.

Mainly, as in "Grave," the gore and much of the action in neo-noir revolves around the disposal of a body. In "Grave," the film gets much use out of the imagery involving disembowelment and the effect on the otherwise normal characters. Take a normal man or woman (?) and make him/her cut the head off a former roommate and something inside might snap. Like Lady Macbeth, you could never get all the blood off no manner how much Dial soap you employed. Films of the noir genre are, also, populated with cunning, ruthless characters whose lack of conscience allow them to calmly take action necessary for the success of their grand plan. It is the character whose conscience, greed, or just plain stupidity gets in the way that is killed or caught. The most ruthless but shrewd character will not stop once the criminality begins; he/she will deliberately see the enterprise through to the end, whatever the consequences.

"Shallow Grave" was not a life changing experience for me, like, say, "The Maltese Falcon" was when I was a child, but it hit the right buttons for a modern take on an old classic genre.

Jonathan Hickman