Good decision to dig deep for Shallow Grave

for some strong criticism at the time. It was accused of unwisely

placing all its eggs in one basket.

Well, now that the film is out, the fund can breathe a sigh of relief.

The money could not have been better spent. By any standard, Shallow

Grave is a cracker of a movie, a deliciously black comedy thriller which

twists and turns like a serpent. For the first time in years the

Scottish film industry has something to shout about.

Mind you, there is a point, about midway through the movie, when you

think director Danny Boyle might just have blown it by heading off down

a one-way street towards predictability. But then the plot neatly veers

off on a glorious tangent and it becomes an altogether more tantalising

movie. The narrative is brazenly mischievous, the dialogue smart and

slick, and the action is marvellously energetic.

Filmed in Glasgow and Edinburgh (but, thankfully, it could be

absolutely anywhere), it's the story of three yuppie flatmates

(Christopher Eccleston, Ewan McGregor, and Kerry Fox) who, having let

their spare room out to Hugo, a mysterious stranger, find him dead in

bed from a drug overdose. All eyes turn to Hugo's battered old suitcase.

Shall they open the box? Well, it wouldn't be much of a movie if they

didn't. Inside they find a fortune in dosh. It is serious moral dilemma

time. Will they do the decent thing, tell the cops, and surrender the

money? Or will they dump the body and stash the cash?

Avarice wins hands down. But what to do with Hugo who, not to put too

fine a point on it, is beginning to smell just a tad ripe? It is clearly

time for a spot of nocturnal gardening. The three flatmates dump Hugo in

a shallow grave (in Glasgow's Rouken Glen, actually) and a reluctant

David, who has drawn the short straw, gruesomely removes the body's

distinguishing features -- the face, the teeth, and the hands.

Meanwhile, a couple of Hugo's gangster mates are becoming increasingly

concerned about his -- and, more to the point, his money's --

disappearance. Which is just about the point when you think that the

movie is about to become just another pale tale about three yuppies, out

of their depth and being pursued by a bunch of low-life thugs.

Predictably, the villains track the trio down to the flat but then . .

. well, it would be churlish to spoil the plot but, suffice to say, the

bad guys are dispatched and the story turns into a dark and juicy study

of greed, suspicion, obsession and, ultimately, madness (there is a nod

and a wink here to Huston's Treasure of the Sierra Madre).

If there is a minor criticism then it is that the three flatmates are,

for the most part, rather unlikeable characters -- self-centred,

over-confident, pompous little farts, really. But they have to be -- if

they were nice guys then they wouldn't be doing what they are doing.

The direction is superb, particularly when you consider the budget

limitations involved, and the dialogue (by John Hodge) is

perfectly-paced and wickedly inventive. This, simply, is a film which

people will pay money to see and enjoy. And how many Scottish movies can

you say that about? (Answers on a postcard please to the Scottish Film

Production Fund.)

Shekhar Kapur's occasionally breathtaking epic Bandit Queen is

essentially a real-life adventure story. It is also an apposite

indictment both of the caste system and of the way women are used and

abused in modern-day India. Based on truth, it is the story of Phoolan

Devi (Seema Biswas) who was sold as a child bride during puberty then

repeatedly raped and degraded by men of a higher caste. She eventually

rebelled against the constant humiliation and joined a mountain bandit

gang.

Her notorious exploits captured the nation's imagination and she

reached almost mythical status with the Indian newspapers turning her

into a kind of female Robin Hood figure. She was not, however, an angel.

Under her leadership, the bandits slaughtered 30 men in a raid which

became known as the Behmai Massacre.

Kapur's beautifully-shot but slightly overlong movie wisely avoids the

temptation to romanticise Phoolan Devi's exploits. At times it is

extremely violent but, at its core, is an honest warts-and-all picture

of a woman's suffering and her eventual revenge.

* Shallow Grave is premiered tonight at 11pm in the MGM One Cinema and

can also be seen at 1.45pm on Sunday at Filmhouse One. Bandit Queen is

showing at Filmhouse One at 6.30pm on Monday.