Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out despite the allure of drugs and the influence of friends.Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out despite the allure of drugs and the influence of friends.Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out despite the allure of drugs and the influence of friends.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 23 wins & 35 nominations total
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Summary
Featured reviews
are most definitely black humour. Considering what is actually happening isnt funny, watching it play out, aside from one major incident, is extremely funny. And that is the tone of the film throughout, as characters continually talk nonsence and sail through the lives they have chosen, making very little progress, but instead drifting downwards until an opportunity presents itself to change their ways, where upon Renton, Ewan McGregor, must make a choice between his own life or his friends. McGregor himself is excellent in the film that made him, as is Jonny Lee Miller, who surprised me in this film by having a more thought-provoking character than the script and time strictly allowed considering his relatively minimal place in the main storyline. Ewen Bremner provided some excellent and often well-needed comic relief and Carlyle as I mentioned, was outstanding. This film is both real and unreal, taking the Humour of "Human Traffic" and the somber tone of "My name is Joe" and blending them together to create an unforgettable experience vividly accompanied by strains of "Perfect day" and other cultural and nostalgic sounds, particularly of the place and period. Trainspotting has been accused of glamourising drug-use but I firmly believe anyone who takes this view hasnt watched it properly. The fun is equally, if not more so, matched by some nasty images and for the time it was released, provided what was a very necessary look at the growing drug industry, the loss it creates and the hope that can arise. Superb.
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
The term "trainspotting" in this case, is not the non-drug based hobby, but has two meanings for this film. A) The act of "trainspotting" is UK slang for trying to find a vein to intravenously inject drugs. And B) A joke not featured in the film, but two of the characters go to a disused train station to buy drugs and say they are going "trainspotting".
Ewan McGregor stars as Mark Renton, a performance that put him on the map, a man who spends; or wastes, most of his time taking drugs with his friends in one of their apartments. Until he decides to finally pack it in and go cold turkey. We see the highs and lows of the drugs as Renton attempts to build a new life. He battles the strain and the influences of his mates; including Sick Boy (Johnny Lee Miller) a man who stops at nothing to take all, Spud (Ewen Bremner) a fast-paced anxious performance and Francis Begbie (Robert Carylye) a frighteningly intense character who is possibly my favourite of all-time; and Renton's sex life.
Vibrant colour is used to exaggerate the actions to intensify the imagery on screen. This also makes it stand out from other films creating a massive impact on the viewer. Unforgettable. The soundtrack consists of the pop culture the characters themselves love and some regularly featured in real life at the time. The film captures the era perfectly.
Danny Boyle's stylish direction is what mainly is so appealing about the film. Delivering an expertly structured adrenalin rush. The daring topic of the film was well perceived by critics and audiences to claim universal praise. But, they were still unsure if it was supporting drugs or an anti-drug film. In a way it is both.
We are guided through the film with Renton's narration, making it an extremely watchable viewing, one irresistible to want to experience several times. A hilarious triumph. This is movie-making at its most exhilarating.
9/10
Renton (Ewan McGregor) is a heroin addict living day to day, stealing and looking for that hit. It is an empty life and he realises he needs to kick the habit but each time he tries to get off heroin something drags him back.
Renton experiences the high side of heroin but he knows the low side is too high a price to pay. His friends and associates are making it difficult for him to stay clean.
Director Danny Boyle infused the film with a kinetic energy helped by its soundtrack. It is trippy, disjointed, hip even amoral in places. Despite its cool reputation it shows the ugliness of addiction. Especially with the character of Tommy who is a fitness fanatic and clean but turns to drugs when his girlfriend leaves him and he dies a horrible death.
Like the movie A Clockwork Orange the film is driven by the narration of its central character which keeps the story together and brings out the dark humour.
I only saw the film for the first time twenty years after its cinema release and was impressed how well it has stood up to the test of time.
Adapted from the first (and best) book by Irvine Welsh, the film shows the lives of a group of Edinburgh heroin addicts.
The film is a black comedy, at times hilarious, tragic, surreal, brutal and uplifting. The film is full of memorable moments such as the chase down Edinburgh's Princes Street which opens the film (I happened to be there when they were filming that scene) and Ewan McGregor diving down the "Worst Toilet in Scotland" headfirst.
The film doesn't condemn drug addicts, but it is probably more effective then any amount of preachy moralising as it depicts the devastating consequences that can happen to drug users.
The film is well acted by a cast who have (mostly) become pretty famous since. Especially memorable is Robert Carlyle as the violent Begbie.
I have seen this film many times. It is an instant classic. Go check it out.
Did you know
- TriviaAlthough it looks thoroughly off-putting, the feces in the Worst Toilet in Scotland scene was actually made from chocolate and smelled quite pleasant.
- GoofsAfter Renton has sex with Diane, he has nothing on his penis, but once he gets kicked out into the hallway, he pulls a condom off.
- Quotes
Mark "Rent-boy" Renton: We took morphine, diamorphine, cyclizine, codeine, temazepam, nitrazepam, phenobarbitone, sodium amytal, dextropropoxyphene, methadone, nalbuphine, pethidine, pentazocine, buprenorphine, dextromoramide, chlormethiazole. The streets are awash with drugs you can have for unhappiness and pain, and we took them all. Fuck it, we would have injected vitamin C if only they'd made it illegal.
- Crazy creditsThe voice-over during the end of the end credits cites the seven movies in which Sean Connery played "James Bond".
- Alternate versionsThe Special Edition did not feature the trailer and video. These were available in the Green Edition. UK 'Green Edition' video release is in widescreen format and includes the nine extra scenes featured in the box set special edition, the original theatrical trailer (which doesn't use any of the film's footage) and the complete promotional video of Underworld's Born Slippy, the hit song spawned from the soundtrack.
- SoundtracksLust for Life
Performed by Iggy Pop
Words and Music by Iggy Pop / David Bowie
Published by EMI Music Publishing Ltd/EMI Virgin Music Ltd/Tintoretto Music
Administered by RZO Music
Courtesy of Virgin Records America Inc
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Trainspotting: La vida en el abismo
- Filming locations
- Corrour Railway Station, Highland, Scotland, UK(on location)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- £1,500,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $16,491,080
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $262,673
- Jul 21, 1996
- Gross worldwide
- $16,992,984