Trainspotting

Director:Danny Boyle
Screenplay:John Hodge
Producer:Andrew Macdonald
Starring:Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle, Kelly Macdonald

Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrasment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life. But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose something else. And the reasons are there are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin.

John's Review

My first impression of Trainspotting, was... I'm not quite sure tell you the truth. It is one of the few movies in recent history that has left me thinking for quite some time afterwords. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It was not the least bit as I had originally expected. I know there was quite a bit of buzz around this film, but I have tried on several occasions to ignore the 'buzz' surrounding anything for that matter.

The movie centers around Mark Renton (McGregor)and his efforts (multiple) to kick heroine. The only problem is his four friends. There's Spud (Bremner), good hearted but dumber than dirt; Begbie (Carlyle) who is nothing more than a bar brawler; Sickboy (Miller) who is a narcissist with an obsession of Sean Connery; Tommy (McKidd) the only friend who, at the start of the film, has never done heroine. Between their petty theft, to pay for their habits, their failed relationships, these someimtes friends of Renton's vow to get off drugs and on with their lives. Simple enough? Not quite.

Trainspotting covers a lot of thematic ground. It's about taking risks and paying the price for them. It's about choosing life over death. Though it treads waters deep and dark at times, it also brims with an edgy humor: Begbie starting a fight by tossing a mug into a peaceful crowd; Spud blazing his way through a job interview fueled by speed; a scatological post-coital catastrophe. Even that doesn't quite capture the extreme energy of Trainspotting. Credit Boyle with crafting a picture built for speed and surprises. Some of the camera angles are astonishing, and much of the dialogue crackles with anti-hero apathy. Credit, too, a solid cast: McGregor all boyish charm and self-indulgence; Carlysle's Begbie all rabid rage; Bremer's Spud as simple and earthy as a potato with teeth. Their lives form a twisted opera, alternately sublime and over-the-top.

This movie is not for everyone, I don't think it is necessarily a dark comedy, and it's not necessarily a drama either. It shocks you, it makes you laugh, at times it makes you curl back in disgust. The one thing it does do throughout the film is display the negative and often shocking world of drugs. I liked this film, I liked it a lot, and I am very dissapointed that the Academy failed to recognize this film but chose instead, to put Jerry Mcguire up for a best picture Oscar instead.

Grade: A-

Werner's Review

I had heard a lot about this film before I saw it so I went into it with some preconceived notions that I now wish I did not have. Overall, though, this was a fine film which presented a reality of drug abuse that I had not seen before in the movies and which had a nice twist at the ending that completed the film quite well.

The Plot:

This movie is about a group of heroin addicted Scotish youths and how their addiction affects each of their lives. The movie's main character is Renton (McGregor) and much of the film is seen through his eyes. Throughout the film, we get a chance to see how each character is affected by their addiction and how each charater tries to live with their addiction. I would say more but it would require me ruining some very powerful scenes as well as a nice ending that is tied to the monologue that we hear at the start of the film.

The Good:

This movie, in my opinion, does drug addition right. It shows how alluring being addicted to a narcotic can be (we constantly hear from Renton how he will be OK if he can get just one more hit) as well as showing many of the ramifications that being addicted to a drug can have on a person (ex. AIDS, withdrawal, loss of bodily control, etc.) It was refreshing to see a movie that was as candid as this one is considering how often Hollywood seems to just show the extremes of drug addiction (either how much money you can make from it or how utterly useless to society the drug can make you.) This film does not suffer from that since its portrayal of drug addiction seems to be done in as realistic a way as possible.

I also enjoyed the "day in the life" style that the film takes in showing how Renton interacts with his friends. I have always enjoyed this style of storytelling since it allows one to really get to know a character for what he truly is (the daily stuff that one deals with) rather than using a singular point out of that characters life in order to introduce him/her to us. The whole movie is told with this "day in the life" style in mind and it helps to bring home the ramifications of Renton and his friends' drug addiction as we see the costs that each one has to indure because of it.

The acting in this movie is also above average for most movies. It has come to my attention that many independent films (especially the ones that are coming fromt the British Isles) are filled with actors who are just outstanding in their craft. This movie is no acception. McGregor does a fine job of conveying all of the emotions that his character is going through. His co-stars are no exception since they are able to bring to life characters whose on-screen time is somewhat limited in relation to McGregor's character.

I came close to putting the ending of the movie in "The Bad" category below but upon reflection I personally liked this part of the film. When I first saw the movie, I thought that the end of the movie was a sudden departure from the way the rest of the film had gone. In hindsight, however, I now realize that the ending of this film ties in beautifully in with what the film was about and especially in with the opening of the film. (Note: Keep this in mind when you watch the movie.)

The Bad:

Once again, I had a hard time understanding an English speaking foreign film due to the accents that the cast members had. (I wonder if other English speaking countries have the same problem with out films?) This was somewhat of a drawback to me since I had to spend quite some time figuring out what the characters were saying instead of just enjoying the dialogue and looking at the scenes that they were in. I would suggest using the closed captioning capabilities to watch this film if you TV has it.

I still have not figured out what the title of the movie means.

Overall:

A good film to rent. It is a little depressing in parts but it compensates for this nicely with some interesting comedic moments. I would definitely recommend this film to anyone who wanted to watch it.

Grade: B+
 
 

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