Shallow Grave

The feature film debut of Scottish director Danny Boyle was a dark, hip, Generation X comedy about a trio of Edinburgh roommates whose narcissistic greed fuels murder and betrayal. Boisterous journalist Alex ( Ewan McGregor ), flirtatious doctor Juliet ( Kerry Fox ), and meek accountant David ( Christopher Eccleston ) possess very different personalities, but the roommates are bonded in mutual, self-absorbed cynicism. Seeking a fourth boarder to share the rent for their stylish flat, they cruelly dismiss several candidates before settling on Hugo ( Keith Allen ), whose air of detachment meets the roommates' standard of coolness. Hugo's reserve masks criminal involvement, however, as the roommates discover when they find him dead in bed from a drug overdose, with a valise containing enormous amounts of cash. Their nascent greed overwhelms them, and the trio dismembers and buries Hugo, stealing his money. Only David, who understands finance, seems to realize that someone's eventually going to seek out such a large sum. As both drug dealers and police get closer to figuring out the friends' secret, shy, nerdy David becomes violently paranoid, while Juliet's allegiance switches back and forth between her roommates. Boyle teamed subsequently with producer Andrew Macdonald and screenwriter John Hodge on several high-profile films. — Karl Williams

Criterion edition:
Video:
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Danny Boyle's Shallow Grave arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The new and supervised by director of photography Brian Tufano high-definition transfer is clearly superior to the one British distributors Film Four used for their Blu-ray release of Shallow Grave in 2009. Close-ups look sharper and boast better depth (see screencapture #4); during panoramic shots clarity is also improved (compare screencapture #11 with screencapture #10 from our review of the Film Four release). There are discrepancies in the color-schemes of the two releases as well. Generally speaking, on the Criterion release the reds, browns, and blacks are more prominent and better saturated, while on the Film Four release light and softer greens and browns have a tendency to overwhelm the reds and blacks. As a result, during sequences where light is restricted the Film Four release looks softer. Furthermore, there are no traces of problematic sharpening. On the Film Four release, however, light edge-enhancement occasionally creeps in. Criterion's release is also free of noticeable scratches, flecks, and damage marks. This said, there are a few sequences where I noticed some extremely light artifacts popping up, though they are not even remotely distracting. All in all, Criterion's presentation of Shallow Grave is unquestionably more satisfying than Film Four's. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Audio:
There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature.

The lossless audio track has a modest dynamic amplitude. This is not to imply, however, that there are technical limitations that could have been avoided; rather that the film has a modest sound design, which the lossless track effectively replicates. The dialog is crisp, stable, clean, and very easy to follow, but the dynamic progressions are indeed quite limited. As far as I am concerned, the short electronica motifs are the only bits from the film that are likely to make an impression. For the record, there are no distortions or audio dropouts to report in this review.