Trainspotting

Trainspotting
"A wild, freeform, Rabelaisian trip through the darkest recesses of Edinburgh low-life, focusing on Mark Renton and his attempt to give up his heroin habit, and how the latter affects his relationship with family and friends: Sean Connery wannabe Sick Boy, dimbulb Spud, psycho Begbie, 14-year-old girlfriend Diane, and clean-cut athlete Tommy, who's never touched drugs but can't help being curious about them..."

4 stars

"Good thing comes to those who wait." That's the concept that came to mind while I was watching Trainspotting. If you're not ready for this movie, it's going to knock you on your ass. The story hits the ground running and immediately throws you into a life of squalor and hardcore drug use. Luckily, there's a tongue-in-cheek feel to some of the scenes that keeps us from falling into a deep depression over the stark reality of what exactly is going on.

The first half hour is not for the faint of heart. There is a scene at "The Worst Toilet in Scotland" that is sure to make Grandma and Grandpa switch over to Wheel of Fortune, and another scene at the breakfast table that has equally shocking "fecal comedy". But in looking back, I think the movie was written this way on purpose to weed out casual movie goers who are not going to appreciate (and in this case deserve) the brilliance of the film.

At about the halfway point, you start to realize two things. The first is that this movie is visually astounding. The influence of "A Clockwork Orange" is evident both literally (in one bar scene) and figuratively with regard to the ingenious camera angles and usage of lighting and reflection. The second thing you realize is that EVERYONE in the cast really can act. You almost forget that you're watching a movie and let yourself slip into the notion that it's actually a documentary. The range of emotion goes from boyishly silly to disturbingly dark almost seamlessly, and the actors pull it off very well.

Now, it's not without its drawbacks. The "love story" between Renton and Diane is grossly underdeveloped and not necessarily even needed in the plot. And the fact that no one in the group ever stands up to the sociopathic, ultra-violent Begbie leaves some sense of incompleteness. But the film tends to stay true to itself and the cult-classic novel it is based off of. In the end, like in life, the characters haven't changed much. There is some progress made, most notably in Renton, but most everyone remains the same. It doesn't fall into the trap of Hollywood movies that take a protagonist from near-death-drug-addict all the way to picturesque-family-man in a mere 90 minutes.

It's real, almost too real. And you come to realize that this movie had to be made in the United Kingdom because a puritanical American production would have butchered it until it had the same emotional significance of Half Baked. In fact, two pivotal scenes were actually removed for the US release because they were deemed to graphic. So, make sure to get the director's cut and see why BAFTA has ranked this movie as the 10th most significant British movie of all time.


Robyn's response:
3 stars

I watched Trainspotting over two years ago, and there are certain images that are burned in my mind. The diarrhea and the suppositories, the filthy apartment that causes Tommy to die of toxoplasmosis (from the cat's litter box), Tommy's dead body, the baby's dead body, and the most scarring of all, the dead baby crawling on the ceiling.

On the other hand, I had to go to wikipedia to read a plot summary and refresh my memory. So does this mean it's a good film or a bad film? Am I just remembering the shocking scenes for their shock value? Or was it good cinematography? Did I block the story from my memory because it was so damn depressing? Or because the story just wasn't that memorable?