British cinema is a changing beast. Once known for exploitative splatter-horror films in the 1960’s and 70’s, the landscape has evolved into something far more distinctive.
At the turn of the millennium, UK cinema became flush with distinct young filmmakers who came to define the landscape moving forward. Directors like Edgar Wright, Shane Meadows, and Guy Ritchie, to name a few, paved the way forward for many other amateur filmmakers.
Before this group of filmmakers, there was Danny Boyle, the Lancashire-born director who made his debut in 1994 at the age of 40. Best known for Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, and Slumdog Millionaire, he’s explored just about every genre out there in his three-decade career. His debut film, Shallow Grave, still stands as a good showing of what British cinema is all about – tension.
Bright Beginnings
Funded by long-time financier Channel 4, Boyle’s first picture explores the very relatable lives of three flatmates in Edinburgh. After coming into possession of a large case of money, the group of friends begins to devolve into a cycle of greed and violence.
Though Shallow Grave is different from his subsequent work, Boyle’s now trademark paranoia-inducing filmmaking is used to great effect throughout the 90-minute thriller. Much of this fear comes from the way Boyle frames Christopher Eccleston; the quick drop into violence is heightened by how Boyle keeps the camera tight to Eccleston’s face during his unreadable emotional outbursts.
Moving past Shallow Grave, Boyle quickly developed his vision of Irvine Welsh’s seminal Scottish tale of drug abuse, Trainspotting. Still backed by Channel 4, the director adapted Welsh’s novel into a film that was more digestible for general audiences, yet found a way to keep the harsh edge of Renton’s story present.
After receiving its share of controversy from news publications at the time for allegedly glamorising drug use, the film stuck the landing and brought with it a bright future for the then amateur filmmaker. Now 30 years on from Trainspotting the film has gone down as one of the great cinematic ventures, and most of this is down to how Boyle crafts his stories.
The traditional three-act structure that most stories are beholden to is undone in Trainspotting. Renton’s story reaches a conclusion, but he doesn’t get there without taking one step forward, and three steps back. Boyle makes the journey as unpredictable as the adverse effects of the drugs the characters are taking; you can’t predict what’s going to happen to Sick Boy, or Begbie, or any of the other core cast members.
The Days That Followed
Following Trainspotting, Boyle worked on another book-to-film adaptation. The Beach, originally written by soon-to-be collaborator Alex Garland, was Boyle’s next hit, though it didn’t make the same waves as Trainspotting. It was only after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease and a period of civil unrest in the UK that Boyle created his next landmark film.
28 Days Later is undoubtedly Boyle’s most thought-provoking film, exploring themes of social panic and family, all wrapped in a tight horror plot. It’s a film that proved Boyle was more than just a one-hit wonder. Following a group of people 28 days after a virus infected a majority of those living in the UK, the film races through a pandemic-based Britain that feels eerily familiar to the pandemic that swept the world six years ago.
Boyle continued to develop as a filmmaker by incorporating guerrilla elements into his style. Using cheap digital cameras to capture a gritty tone and deciding to abandon grand cinematography left the film looking, and sounding, wholly original. Its age does show in the grain of the equipment used, but that only adds to it being a by-product of the time it was made.
Penned by Alex Garland, 28 Days spawned a wave of copycat films that followed the blueprint laid out by both him and Boyle. The trend of running zombies is thankfully one that’s been left to the 2010’s, though a resurgence could be likely after the duo teamed up once again to create a trilogy in the franchise that brought them together two decades ago.
The recent 28 Years trilogy is a marvel that stands against what Hollywood is. Where other cross-media franchises have run their products into the ground with cheap sequels and confusing collaborations, Boyle and Garland returned to the series because they had a new story to tell, not because they were in desperate need to cash in on an iconic IP.
A Future Forged in the Past
Danny Boyle’s future is one that’s been in the making since he entered the industry three decades ago. He has always had a DIY attitude to his pictures, and his recent output proves that that’s not going anywhere.
Even if there were bumps along the way in his career, when he puts his eye and directorial spirit into a project, it tends to work out well.
Without Boyle, British filmmakers wouldn’t have a creator in the mainstream that works with the same mindset to look up to. He’s a man of immense talent, and his films only get better as the years go by.
Featured Image Credit: Gordon Correll via Flickr