Sunday, January 15, 2006

 

Insomnia Theater

Watched 2/3 of Shallow Grave a few nights ago and I am glad to report that it remains an excellent movie, nearly as shocking now as it was 12 years ago. Although not quite the classic The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is, it has a similar theme (corruption of the soul by a boatload of money) and a quirky, cynical final scene that is rightfully called the best movie ending in British cinema in the past 20 years.

The director is Danny Boyle. He burst out of TV directing to helm this, his first medium budget film, and knocked the ball out of the park (or whatever the cricket metaphor for doing really well is). He went on to direct Trainspotting and more recently the ultimate zombie film 28 Days Later [Boyle is making 28 Weeks Later about the Americans coming to Britain to take over after the zombie plague had completely depopulated it and of course screwing it up. In the original the British government and army were the bad guys--now it will be the Americans. Euro-progress, I guess].

This was the first movie I saw Ewan McGregor in and he's terrific as the cynical, hedonistic reporter, one of three flat mates who inherit, by possession, a large suitcase of 100 pound notes when the new, fourth flat mate dies. That's not all they get; the vengeful rightful owners are violently wending their way to a visit, torture victim by torture victim. McGregor has gone on to do a lot of movies--my generation will probably remember him for the junkie in Trainspotting while a younger one will remember him as young Obi-Wan Kenobi. My favorite of his post Shallow Grave work was as an American in Black Hawk Down. The other flat mates don't fare quite as well. I've never seen the slightly less than Hollywood pretty, scheming girl played by Kerry Fox in any other movie. She has apparently disappeared into smaller roles and TV. The last and really the best of the flat mate trio, David, played by Christopher Eccleston, who is scary in his intensity as he goes homicidally insane, barely fared better. He was in 28 Days Later, as the evil, urbane Major, and plenty of other movies, but Boyle is apparently the only director who will give him a role of importance. He's the 9th Doctor Who, though, and the reviews of his work in that are nearly ecstatic.

To say this movie is violent is an understatement, because the violence has a nearly casual sense of realism, which makes it all the more shocking. I really like it and I'd watch it again, if I couldn't sleep, and I'm sure I'd enjoy it again. It's a fantasy/morality play, I guess. My only problem with the plot is how the very weird police discover the identities of the dead, bad guys. How'd they do that? I guess we're just supposed to think that they have their ways.

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