Trainspotting (1996)
Directed by Danny Boyle
89 minutes
Floor 3 Pink Zone 791.4372 TRA
Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose Trainspotting.
Danny Boyle’s film consistently ranks among the best British films ever made. At times hard hitting, at times comical, Trainspotting offers a gritty look at the lives of heroin addicts in 1990s Edinburgh. ‘Rent Boy’ (Ewan McGregor) leads the audience through a narrative of drug taking, recovery, betrayal, violence, and Sex.
The film sees ‘Rent Boy’ attempt to kick his habit several times, fluctuating between a desire for a normal life, job, and girlfriend, and the wish to escape through the ease of drugs. These fluctuations are shaped with masterfully edited sequences. In one scene ‘Rent Boy’ attempts to leave drugs cold turkey, as the walls endlessly move, a driving musical beat highlights the relentlessness of his drug fuelled hallucinations. The scene disturbs in a manner that allows the viewer to empathise with the suffering of a drug-addict. Even more abstract is the ‘Worst Toilet in Scotland’ sequence of which I will not spoil, but will note how it disturbs in a very different manner.
This is not to say that Trainspotting is always bleak. Black comedy underscores the film, ranging from ‘Sick Boy’ (Jonny Lee Miller) and his constant analysing of the James Bond franchise, to lines about what it is to be Scottish (with language too strong to repeat here); drunken antics and their consequences also offer a broader humour.
Ewan McGregor stars in one of his first major roles, his casting as a heroin addict is powerful and offers a great contrast to his work in following years with Star Wars, Moulin Rouge! and Big Fish. Equally of credit is the terrifying performance of Robert Carlyle who plays the unbalanced ‘Franco’, whose drug is violence; as well as Ewen Bremner’s acting for the innocent natured ‘Spud’, practically during a disastrous job interview that highlights the effects of Speed. Trainspotting also gives Kelly Macdonald (No Country for Old Men, Harry Potter) her first ever role, and there is also a small role for Shirley Henderson, best known for her role as Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter franchise, she is almost unrecognisable with a Scottish accent.
If it is not already obvious some caution should be taken due to the drug-abuse and language of the film. There are small complaints also, a montage sequence of London landmarks runs a bit too long, though it serves to show ‘Rent Boys’ displacement from society. However, as a whole Trainspotting is a darkly-comic, gritty, and very British, film that explores a different side of society.
Why It’s Significant?
A British masterpiece, Trainspotting put director Danny Boyle, and several actors including Ewan McGregor, well and truly on the international mainstage.
If You Like This, You May Also Like From The Library:
T2 Trainspotting, dir. by Danny Boyle (TriStar Pictures, 2017) – Fancy another bite of the franchise? A sequel has been produced some twenty years later, again by Danny Boyle. (791.4372 TRA)
You can also try Irvine Welsh’s book Trainspotting available Floor 3 Orange Zone 823.91 WEL.
The Full Monty, dir. by Peter Cattaneo (Fox Searchlight Pictures, 1997) – A slightly different vein, being more comical. Another British masterpiece, again with an outstanding performance by Robert Carlyle (791.4372 FUL)
Written by Phil Wintle
