So here’s the deal. A stranger, who appears to have no local connections dies whilst renting your spare room, leaving you a suit case full of money. There are two options. Firstly you could call the police, hand in the cash and go back to life as normal. The other option is to keep the money, which requires desposing of the body and acting as if nothing has ever happened. What do you do?
Shallow Grave is set in a flat in Glasgow which is shared by three friends, and this is the scenario that they face at the start of the film. They decide to keep the money, after all desposing of a body wont be that hard, and the now deceased ex-lodger appears to be a loner just passing through, so no one will miss him. Having got rid of the initial problem, the body, they expect everything to settle down and after an appropriate period of time they can start enjoying the cash. This is when their problems begin.
Firstly the very act of disposing of the body causes a rift in the household, David, played by the marvellous Christopher Eccleston, has problems coming to terms with what they have done. He becomes cautious and even paranoid and eventually retires to live in the attic of the house with the money to ensure its safe keeping.
Unbeknown to the flat mates, the deceased was some form of gangster and the money is being sought by a couple of psychos who pay a very violent visit to the flat, only to be killed by David, leaving two more bodies to be dispossed off, a job the once balanced flatmate now seems at home with.
Problems keep coming, firstly in the form of the police, who have uncovered the body, but more dramatically between the flatmates themselves. They play a political came of two against one, pairing off indifferent ways against each other as their needs and ambitions dictate. To tell you much more of the plot would be to give too much away.
The film is presented as a dark but humorous thriller, you will at a turn both laugh and be reviled by the thought of what the characters are going through. If it has a message at all it is about greed and its affect on even the strongest friendships, and the lengths people are prepared to go to satisfy that greed.
There are only three main roles in the film, Eccleston, Ewan MacGregor and Kerry Fox and the film works because of their great interaction and the strength of the characters, you do get the feeling that they are old friends. MacGregor is particularly funny and his then boyish charm works well for his character.
If only to support the rivival of British film production Shallow Grave is a must, but it does also stand on its own merits and is a good evenings viewing.