Small murders among friends

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Movie
German title Small murders among friends
Original title Shallow grave
Country of production United Kingdom
original language English
Publishing year 1994
length 89 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Danny Boyle
script John Hodge
production Andrew Macdonald
music Simon Boswell
camera Brian Tufano
cut Masahiro Hirakubo
occupation

Little murders among friends (original title Shallow Grave ), a black comedy film from 1994 , is the directorial debut of Danny Boyle . The English original title Shallow Grave literally means "(too) shallow grave"; in other words, a pit that was not dug deep enough to permanently hide the dead man. The German title is derived from the English subtitle What's a little murder among friends?

action

The doctor Juliet Miller, the accountant David Stephens and the journalist Alex Law are looking for a new roommate for their shared apartment. Many applicants then give each other a hand and are put through their paces by them; but none of them meet the high demands of the three - until Hugo shows up. He is an older, intellectually self-evident, mysterious poet who wants to write a novel and makes a deep impression on Juliet. He moves in, but is no longer seen afterwards. After a while the roommates break open his door and find him lying dead on the bed, died of a drug overdose. But that's not all; under the bed they find a suitcase full of banknotes. So that they can keep the money, they want to make the body unrecognizable by cutting off the hands and feet and burying it in a wooded area. Ironically, the sober accountant David is supposed to do this job.

The police and two killers appear in search of the money. The policemen are dismissed and the killers are killed by David. He holed up with the suitcase in the attic and drilled holes in the ceiling so that he could watch the roommates from above at any time. The mistrust quickly grows among the three, and it grows into the delusion of being betrayed by the other.

Eventually the situation escalates. David pierces Alex with a knife, but is then killed by Juliet. Before she disappears with the suitcase, she drives the knife further into Alex's body and leaves him bleeding heavily. However, in the certainty that she will pull away as the winner, she has to discover at the airport that Alex has taken the money out of the suitcase and put newspaper in it instead. The police have meanwhile found the injured Alex on the kitchen floor beneath which he has hidden the money unnoticed.

criticism

“A black and humorous thriller that contains scenes of effectively stylized brutality. He draws his tension from the imaginative and fast-paced direction, the imaginative visual design and the nuanced game. "

- Lexicon of international film

"Director Boyle and his author John Hodge (...) serve a satire full of madness and nasty surprises."

- Cinema

Awards

The film won the BAFTA Award for best British film . Danny Boyle won the Golden Hitchcock of the Dinard British Film Festival , the Grand Prix of the Cognac Festival du Film Policier , the Empire Award , the Evening Standard British Film Awards and the London Film Critics' Circle Film Award . In addition, Danny Boyle received the Silver Shell as best director at the Festival Internacional de Cine de Donostia-San Sebastián .

Trivia

Due to funding, the film was filmed in Glasgow , although the action is set in Edinburgh .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Small murders among friends. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ Small murders among friends on cinema.de