BOYLE’S LAW (THE FILMS OF DANNY BOYLE)

Vivacious - that's the word that best describes the films of Danny Boyle.

It's impossible to watch Danny Boyle movies and not be excited about the possibilities of cinema.

The Lancashire Oscar winner has produced some of British cinema's most vibrant films - movies that pulsate with joy, with pain, with energy, with beauty.

And like all great filmmakers, he does this by stretching visual narrative to its limits and understanding that the most memorable movies contain sequences that fully test the possibilities of sight and sound.

That is why, like most great directors, even when his projects don't completely work, you still come away with images seared in your brain.

With 10 feature films (including his latest 'Trance') under his belt as well as TV movies, Boyle has shown a tremendous versatility, crossing genres from the modern morality thriller to a magical realist comedy, from zombie horror to science fiction.

Boyle has also demonstrated that he has a wonderful way with actors of various levels of experience and can unearth or showcase fresh talent like Ewan McGregor, Cillian Murphy, Robert Carlyle, Dev Patel, Freida Pinto and Christopher Eccleston.

If there's a Boyle's Law for cinema, it is that all movies should entertain while at the same time bucking expectations by turning their back on convention.

As we await his eagerly awaited thriller 'Trance' to hit cinemas this week, this is a reminder of Danny Boyle's nine films so far.

SHALLOW GRAVE (1994)

As feature film debuts go, Boyle's Edinburgh morality take about three yuppies was one hell of a game changer for British cinema.

From the opening words of Christopher Eccleston's buttoned up chartered accountant, David to the high speed opening credits sequence through the streets of the Scottish capital fuelled by the music of Leftfield to the vibrant colours of the yuppies' apartment, this was a movie that assaulted the senses and repeatedly delivered a series of electric shocks to its audience.

'Shallow Grave' became one of the UK's biggest movie hits of 1994, cementing Eccleston's reputation as a huge acting talent and making Ewan McGregor a star as the fickle tabloid reporter Alex, as well as featuring the wonderful Kerry Fox as the equally shallow doctor, Juliet.

A smart script by John Hodge had a terrifically macabre premise at the heart of it. If, like the protagonists, you discovered your new flatmate (Keith Allen's sinister but charming Hugo) had died from an overdose and had left behind a suitcase full of money, what would you do? 

Corrupted by the money, Alex, Juliet and David make the mistake of keeping it and deciding to bury Hugo. As they bicker over whether to go on a spending spree or hoard their ill gotten windfall, the flatmates pay a heavy price mentally and physically.

Breathtakingly shot by Brian Tufano and brilliantly edited by Masahiro Hirakubo, the film featured wonderful supporting performances by two of Scotland's finest actors, Ken Stott as a detective and Peter Mullan as a brutal heavy. Nineteen years later, the movie's capacity to thrill, scare and mesmerise has not diminished.

TRAINSPOTTING (1996)

How do you follow up a film as good as 'Shallow Grave'? 

By making an equally stunning black comedy based on Irvine Welsh's novel about heroin addicts in Edinburgh.

Drawing from the same creative team, Boyle and producer Andrew MacDonald set about making a drugs drama which wasn't, in the words of Welsh, a "po-faced piece of social realism like 'Christine  F' or 'The Basketball Diaries'" but would appeal to a mass audience.

They did this with another witty, intelligent script by John Hodge, stunning visuals by Brian Tufano, clever editing by Masahiro Hirakubo, a hip soundtrack and a vibrant cast who helped convey the initial adrenaline rush and selfishness of drug addiction and then the terrible consequences that come with it.

In the anchor role, Ewan McGregor was dynamic as the anti-hero and narrator, Renton but he was boosted by a terrific ensemble cast that consisted of Jonny Lee Miller's cocky addict Sick Boy, Euan Bremner's loveable loser Spud, Kevin McKidd's affable Tommy, Kelly Macdonald's precocious Diane and Robert Carlyle's terrifying Psycho, Begbie. 

It also featured memorable supporting appearances by Keith Allen, Shirley Henderson, James Cosmo, Peter Mullan and even gameshow host, Dale Winton and a hip soundtrack that mixed classics by Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, a cover by New Order and original material by Leftfield, Pulp, Blur, Elastica and Underworld.

Like all classic movies, 'Trainspotting' was packed with quotable lines and memorable set pieces - the opening chase through the streets of Edinburgh, Renton's magical realist encounter with Scotland's most disgusting toilet, the freeze frame as Begbie sets about orchestrating a pub brawl by casually dropping a pint glass over a pub balcony, Spud's bedroom accident, Tommy's Archie Gemill moment, Renton sinking into the carpet as he overdoses to the tune of Lou Reed's 'Perfect Day', Spud's manic job interview, the terror of the cold turkey sequence and the unbearable tension of the final sequences in a London hotel room.

This was Boyle at his visceral best and a sequel 'Porno', based on Welsh's follow-up novel, is now in the planning.

A LIFE LESS ORDINARY (1997)

After the soaring highs of 'Shallow Grave' and 'Trainspotting', it was inevitable Boyle would experience a low.

And while his third collaboration with McGregor, Hodge, McDonald, Tufano and Hirakubo was a massive messy disappointment, it had some merit.

Set in the US, this whimsical romantic road movie began in Heaven with Holly Hunter and Delroy Lindo as two angels, O'Reilly and Jackson, tasked by Dan Hedaya's chief angel Gabriel with helping two humans find love. If they fail, they will have to remain on earth.

Their task is to bring together Ewan McGregor's down at heel janitor and aspiring writer, Robert Lewis and Cameron Diaz's spoilt billionaire's daughter, Celine Naville who he inadvertently ends up kidnapping in his boss, Ian Holm's office.

With a theme song by Downpatrick band Ash, 'A Life Less Ordinary' had a nice comic take on William Tell in a sequence where Diaz attempts to shoot an apple perched on the head of her fiance, Stanley Tucci's oily orthodontist. It also had a striking scene where a trail of saliva links Robert and Celine after their first kiss and an amusing tribute to musicals as McGregor and Diaz sing 'Beyond The Sea' in a karaoke session in a bar. 

Admittedly, these were slim pickings in Boyle's most conventional film after 'Trainspotting' and 'Shallow Grave'.

THE BEACH (2000)

Boyle, MacDonald and Hodge originally toyed with the idea that their adaptation of Alex Garland's cult novel might be another vehicle for Ewan McGregor.

However the actor fell out with them as Leonardo di Caprio was cast in the role of the American backpacker, Richard in search of adventure in Thailand - Boyle has expressed regret (as recently as last Saturday's appearance on 'The Jonathan Ross Show') over the rupturing of his creative partnership with McGregor.

Inspired by an encounter with Robert Carlyle's manic and twitchy Scotsman Daffy in a Bangkok hostel,  di Caprio's Richard and a young French couple, Virginie Ledoyen's Francoise and Guillaume Canet's Etienne, embark on a quest to find a secret paradise island on the shores of the Ko Samui.

Inhabited by a self-sufficient community of international backpackers, the backpackers are not sure if they will ever reach their destination or that it exists.

Overcoming a number of obstacles during an arduous journey, the group reach their dream destination only to discover, as the initial buzz wears off, that paradise isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

A return to form of sorts for Boyle and Hodge, 'The Beach' failed to scale the heights of their first two movies but had plenty to recommend it - not least cinematographer Darius Khondji's gorgeous visuals, Tilda Swinton's performance as the island leader Sal, Paterson Joseph as Keaty, Robert Carlyle's wonderful cameo and another strong soundtrack featuring Moby, All Saints, Asia Dub Foundation and New Order.

Among the more striking set pieces were the three backpackers staring at the island and the task facing them as prepare that to swim across a gorgeous Thai sea, Francoise's leap off a waterfall as the boys argue, Francoise and Richard's romantic clinch underwater, Richard's encounter with a shark and the shooting dead of tourists in a marijuana field.

28 DAYS LATER (2002)

Boyle and MacDonald turned to Alex Garland to come up with a screenplay for this evocative low budget zombie apocalypse movie.

Cork actor Cillian Murphy played bicycle courier, Jim, who wakes up from a coma in St Thomas's Hospital in a deserted, ravaged London, only to learn that most of the population has been infected with a virus, released unwittingly by animal rights activists during a raid on a laboratory, that turns people into zombies.

He falls in with a band of misfit survivors that includes Naomie Harris's Selena and Noah Huntley's Mark, Brendan Gleeson's cab driver Frank and his teenage daughter, Hannah, played by Megan Burns. 

As they dodge the infected, the group heads for the sanctuary of a mansion near Manchester, under the control of Christopher Eccleston's Major Henry West, after picking up a radio signal from soldiers who claim they have an answer to the infection.

Intelligently written and impressively acted, thrillingly edited by Chris Gill and ingeniously shot by Anthony Dod Mantle, Boyle's low budget £5 million movie saw him back on top form - with memorable images of an eerily deserted London Bridge at daytime, the soldiers' radio message, the frantic tyre changing sequence as a zombie horde closes in and the heartbreak and terror when one of the gang is infected by a single drop of blood. 

It would go on to gross £52 million at the box office and spawn Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's impressive sequel, '28 Weeks Later' which Danny Boyle and Macdonald executive produced and Robert Carlyle starred in. 

MILLIONS (2004)

Danny Boyle proceeded to buck expectations by genre hopping from the zombie film to a touching family movie about two boys in Widnes, coping with the death of their mother.

Very reminiscent of the magical realism of Vittorio da Sica's 'Miracle in Milan', 'Millions' featured Alex Etel as seven year old Damian Cunningham who is obsessed with the lives of the Saints. He is tested along with his older brother, Lewis McGibbon's Anthony, when a bag full of stolen money is flung from a passing train into the cardboard box Damian calls 'The Hermitage'.

Like the characters in 'Shallow Grave', the boys are divided about what they should do - Anthony wants to spend it, while the devout Damian feels it should be given to the poor. 

In another neat twist in Frank Cotrell Boyce's amusing screenplay, Britain is about to switch currencies from the pound to the euro but how long will it be before the robbers come back to reclaim the cash?

A daring shift in style and pace, 'Millions' was a delightful low budget comedy with engaging performances from Etel and McGibbon, who seem blissfully unaware of how charming they are, and also quirky supporting performances from James Nesbitt as their father, Daisy Donovan as a potential love interest, Christopher Fulford as a criminal and Alun Armstrong as St Peter (one of a series of Saints who pop up in the film).

In one memorable sequence, the boys build a tower out of the cash they discover and there is also a wonderful scene featuring Africans with halos. This was as close as Boyle has ever come to making an Ealing comedy.

SUNSHINE (2007)

Danny Boyle boldly went where other filmmakers had gone before with this science fiction tale about a doomed space mission, with Alex Garland back on screenwriting duties.

Like other science fiction films, the movie unashamedly referenced Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' with Chipo Chung's voice of the spaceship computer, the look of Andrei Tarvosky's 'Solaris' and the shocks of Ridley Scott's 'Alien'.

But it did this with a gripping storyline and stunning special effects that helped breathe new life into the genre.

Cillian Murphy played a physicist, Capa who is a member of the Icarus II, a spacecraft tasked with saving the frozen Planet Earth by flying into the Sun and launching a massive nuclear bomb that could reignite its rays and rescue mankind.

However, as the crew bicker over their task and whether to respond to the discovery of a distress signal from the previously aborted Icarus I mission, their mission takes a tragic turn.

In addition to Murphy, Boyle's movie boasted strong performances by Chris Evans as the engineer Mace, Rose Byrne as the pilot Cassie, Michelle Yeoh as the biologist Corazon, Cliff Curtis as Searle, the ship doctor, and Mark Frost as Pinbacker, the captain of the original Icarus I mission. 

One of the joys of this cerebral movie was the decision not to depict the crew as action heroes but as a misfit collection of scientists. This failure to pander to mainstream audiences' expectations probably led to its disappointing box office take - it recouped only $32 million of its $40 million budget.

With a stirring musical score by John Murphy and Underworld, where 'Sunshine' really scored was the stunning imagery from cinematographer Alwin H Kuchler, the visual effects team and Chris Gill's smart film editing. Among the highlights were the stunning climax of Capa and Hiroyuki Sanada's Captain Kaneda's spacewalk, the explosion that rips through Icarus I, the disorientating flash frames and distorted images to convey the crew's panic, a sequence where one crew member struggles for life in freezing conditions and Capa encountering the face of God.

A hugely underrated spiritual film, 'Sunshine' more than held its own alongside Kubrick, Tarvosky's and Scott's classics.

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (2009)

'Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?' was already a television phenomenon - with 81 different international versions since Celador and ITV first premiered the game show with Chris Tarrant as host in September 1998. 

But who would have predicted that it would also have ended up inspiring a movie that would bag eight Oscars, seven BAFTAs and four Golden Globes?

'Slumdog Millionaire' was the ultimate Oscar underdog  - with its unknown Indian cast, its tough but charming story set in Mumbai and its modest $15 million budget. It won over enthusiastic US and international film critics and audiences with its relentless energy and imagination, grossing $377 million around the world.

Boyle once again proved his ability to unearth new stars and get the most from relatively unknown casts including child actors. Dev Patel and Frieda Pinto were mesmerising as the lovers Jamal Malik and Latika but there were also excellent supporting turns from Madhur Mittal as Jamal's older brother Salim, Mahesh Manjrekar as the crime gang boss Javed Khan, Irrfan Khan as a brutal Police Inspector and Anil Kapoor as the hostile host of the Hindi version of 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire'?

Dazzlingly told with the help of Simon Beaufoy's stunning screenplay, the movie boasted A. R. Rahman's joyous soundtrack, inventive cinematography by Anthony Dod Mantle and film editing by Chris Dickens that recalled at its best Fernando Meirelles' equally mesmerising Brazilian street story, 'City of God'. 

Among the images that lingered long in viewers' memories were the silhouetted images of Patel and Kapoor as their characters prepare to enter the quiz show arena, Jamal crawling through a sewer just to get Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan's autograph, the brutal sectarian slaughter of Jamal and Salim's mother during the Bombay riots, the boys' trek across India by train, the reunion with Salim in a Mumbai skyscraper, the attempted rendezvous with Latika and the thrilling climax as Jamal tries to phone a friend during the quiz show.

In truth, this potted critique is only a taste of the many sights, sounds and sequences that made 'Slumdog Millionaire' such a banquet for viewers' eyes, ears and brains.

127 HOURS (2010)

After the breathtaking vision and panorama of 'Slumdog Millionaire', Boyle typically confounded Hollywood by taking off in a different direction.

Based on the real-life tale of mountaineer Aron Ralston who got trapped by a boulder in a canyon in south eastern Utah, Boyle teamed up again with screenwriter Simon Beaufoy for a movie that was largely limited to one location and posed the question: what would you do if your arm was preventing you from wriggling free from a boulder?

Not for the squeamish, the director once again elicited a powerful Academy Award nominated performance from his lead actor, James Franco whose initially cocky character is literally caught between a rock and a hard place and becomes increasingly remorseful during his ordeal.

Boyle also benefitted from the mastery of two cinematographers Anthony Dod Mantle and Enrique Chediak and his film editor Jon Harris who showed remarkable resourcefulness and inventiveness.

As usual, Boyle bombarded audiences with stunning sights and sounds including the sweeping cameras as Ralston tries to shave three quarters of an hour off his mountain bike ride through desert dirt roads, the hero and his two female trekking companions (Kate Mara and Amber Tamblyn) plunging into a cave pool, his terror after he becomes trapped alone in a ravine, Ralston's premonition about his future son and his hallucinations about his father (Treat Williams) and about partying with an ex girlfriend (Clemence Posey).

The resolution to Ralston's predicament is intelligently handled and again confounds audience expectations. 

And while the box office did not scale the heights of 'Slumdog Millionaire', it turned in a decent $60 million return on an $18 million investment for a movie that once again demonstrated how Boyle remains the most thrilling and innovative filmmakers of his generation.

(This article originally appeared on Eamonnmallie.com)