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Trainspotting (1996)
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Overview
User Rating:
Your Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
19 July 1996 (USA)
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Tagline:
Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a starter home. Choose dental insurance, leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose your future. But why would anyone want to do a thing like that? See more »
Plot:
Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out, despite the allure of the drugs and influence of friends. Full summary » | Full synopsis »
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
Nominated for Oscar.
Another 18 wins
&
13 nominations
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NewsDesk:
(342 articles)
Telluride Review: Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours
(From Slash Film. 4 September 2010, 5:17 PM, PDT)
Telluride Buzz: Danny Boyle’s ’127 Hours’
(From The Film Stage. 4 September 2010, 2:29 PM, PDT)
Five Essential... British Film Directors
(From Flickeringmyth. 3 September 2010, 9:47 AM, PDT)
(From Slash Film. 4 September 2010, 5:17 PM, PDT)
Telluride Buzz: Danny Boyle’s ’127 Hours’
(From The Film Stage. 4 September 2010, 2:29 PM, PDT)
Five Essential... British Film Directors
(From Flickeringmyth. 3 September 2010, 9:47 AM, PDT)
User Reviews:
A triumphant masterpiece
See more (431 total) »
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Ewan McGregor | ... | Renton | |
| Ewen Bremner | ... | Spud | |
| Jonny Lee Miller | ... | Sick Boy | |
| Kevin McKidd | ... | Tommy | |
| Robert Carlyle | ... | Begbie | |
| Kelly Macdonald | ... | Diane | |
| Peter Mullan | ... | Swanney | |
| James Cosmo | ... | Mr. Renton | |
| Eileen Nicholas | ... | Mrs. Renton | |
| Susan Vidler | ... | Allison | |
| Pauline Lynch | ... | Lizzy | |
| Shirley Henderson | ... | Gail | |
| Stuart McQuarrie | ... | Gavin / US Tourist | |
| Irvine Welsh | ... | Mikey Forrester | |
| Dale Winton | ... | Game Show Host |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
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MPAA:
Rated R for graphic heroin use and resulting depravity, strong language, sex, nudity and some violence.
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
94 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.78 : 1 See more »
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Argentina:18 | Iceland:16 | USA:TV-MA (cable rating) | Australia:R | Brazil:18 | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A (DVD rating) | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:-16 | Germany:16 (bw) | Hong Kong:III | Ireland:18 | Israel:18 | Italy:VM14 | Japan:R | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/18 | Singapore:R(A) | South Africa:18 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
This movie was Kelly Macdonald's film debut.See more »
Goofs:
Continuity: The suppositories disappear and then reappear in Renton's hands when he is swimming.See more »
Quotes:
[first lines]
Mark "Rent-boy" Renton:[narrating] 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 suit on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on 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, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?
See more »
Mark "Rent-boy" Renton:[narrating] 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 suit on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on 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, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?
See more »
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Comedy Connections: Rab C. Nesbitt (#6.5)" (2008)See more »
Soundtrack:
Carmen - HabaņeraSee more »
FAQ
Is this movie based on a book?Why is it called "Trainspotting"?
What is toxoplasmosis?
See more »
See more (431 total) »
Message Boards
Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Trainspotting (1996) See more »Recommendations
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Danny Boyle's "Trainspotting" is a film in which everything goes the right way. Few films are fortunate to 'be' at the right time and right place and take the world by storm as "Trainspotting" did, but the ultimate proof of this film's greatness is that if you watched it alone or with a large group of people, in 2008 or in 1996, it has the same effect- absolute power. This film is nothing more- or less- than one of the most effective and perfect artistic works ever committed to celluloid.
The film follows the lives of a group of drug attics in Scotland in the late 1980's but is constructed less as a conventional narrative and more as a series of vignettes connected by characters and set to the film's dazzling soundtrack (the fact that I mention the scenes being 'set' to the soundtrack is proof of its importance in this particular film). Almost every scene is as powerful as the next, with three montages in particular being possibly the definitive examples of how to do a memorable cinematic montage.
Pop culture has been kind to "Trainspotting", remembering it as a unique and great film, especially in Britain. I certainly do not disagree with this consensus, but I feel the film has been hurt by familiarity, with even television series like "Family Guy" parodying the film's well-known scenes (and badly). This doesn't mean that the film's popularity is being hurt, but that it doesn't feel as fresh and original to people now as it did back in 1996. This is hardly the thing the film's reputation suffers most from however, with the significantly large number of people who claim the film supports and promotes drug use. I have to ask, and forgive my rudeness, how stupid can you possibly be? No, drug addicts in this film are not vilified, but they are consistently shown in a brutally realistic and horrifically tragic context, and just because the film doesn't go out of its way to emotionally manipulate you into completely hating its characters doesn't mean that it promotes drug use, it means that it's a knowing film careful enough not to become a sappy, melodramatic Hollywood product.
The acting is phenomenal, the music is terrific, the film is a pitch-perfect example of energizing editing and brilliant use of montage, and its script is one of the best ever written, alternately hilarious, horrifying, tragic, and benefiting from a rare level of depth and resonance. A British classic is what Trainspotting is recognized as, and a British classic is what it is.
10/10