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This blog has been contributed by Kieran Masterton, who is trying to teach me Cockney Rhyming Slang.

My intention with this blog series was to highlight interesting pieces of filmmaking from the British Isles that are likely to be largely unknown in the Land of the Free/Home of the Brave.  It may seem strange, therefore, that I am going to dedicate this week's installment with the name Danny Boyle.  Yes, the same Danny Boyle whose latest film, Slumdog Millionaire, just won 8 Academy Awards.  While Danny and his films are far from unknown in the states it is his relatively obscure first feature Shallow Grave that I want to encourage you to see.

Boyle made his first feature film with the help of the Scottish Film Fund who contributed £150,000 to the project.  The film fund was the forerunner of Scottish Screen, a government run screen culture development agency responsible for promoting and encouraging national cinema.  Regional agencies are established all across the country and generally focus upon films set in their area, or which promote issues particularly pertinent to their community.  These agencies have funded some of Britain's most successful films and play a huge part in supporting independent film production in the UK. 

Shallow Grave is a Hitchcock-style thriller set in Glasgow, Scotland and stars living legend (for us, anyway) Ewan McGregor in his first major feature film.  The film follows three friends - Alex (McGregor), Juliet (Kerry Fox), and David (Christopher Eccleston) - as they find their new flat mate Hugo (Keith Allen, who is incidentally Lilly Allen's Dad) dead and very naked in his sparse bedroom.  As well as being very naked and very dead Hugo also has in his possession a suitcase full of £50 notes.  Subsequently, the friends find themselves embroiled in a string of illicit dealings that eventually spiral out of control into a frenzied bloodbath. 

Shallow Grave has a similar interesting aesthetic to Trainspotting with strong formal cinematographic qualities.  The spiral staircase to their flat presents a prominent visual metaphor for the gradual loss of control within the narrative.  Boyle regularly floods the frame with expressive lighting and uses the cold grays, greens and blues of the Scottish landscape to augment the stone cold narrative.  Both McGregor and Eccleston deliver chilling performances with such striking character transformations that, in my estimation, are some of the best ever along with Viggo Mortensen in A History of Violence, which, in my humble opinion, is by far one of the most impressive screen performances ever.  But I digress.  

Shallow Grave's screenplay, written by John Hodge (also responsible for Trainspotting and The Beach), is a wonderfully dark, funny and subtle script with a delightful twist in the tale.  The characters are nothing if not eccentric, but are also so accessible that you're instantly drawn into their exclusive group.  The descent into darkness is beautifully crafted with a combination of desperate situations and bleak character development.  Those that you would least expect turn out to be chillingly evil, challenging your loyalties at every turn. Most of all, Shallow Grave is a fun film the mixes great British humour, Scotland's so-called tartan noir and Boyle's wonderfully playful style.  If there's one Danny Boyle films that you simply must check out as a result of all this hype, it's Shallow Grave.

Kieran Masterton is a postgraduate research student who has taught Film and Media at the University of Gloucestershire, UK.  His research interests include screenwriting, neo-noir, genre theory and the slasher genre.

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