The Wild & Crazy Indie Smash Hit that Started My Love For Independent Film

Author: Michael Margetis (pmargetis@cox.net) from United States(1)
29 April 2005

Young filmmaker Danny Boyle's film adaptation of Irvine Welsh's incredible novel, about a band of social misfits that just so happen to be sleazy heroin junkies, is the movie that got me hooked on independent flicks. One late Friday night I was cruising through the movie channels on Satellite and I stumbled upon a channel called IFC (Independent Film Channel). On it there was this film 'Trainspotting'. I watched it and immediately fell in love with it. I never really saw anything quite like it, it was stylish, cool, depressing, dark and disturbing all at the same time.

After this I got hooked on IFC channel, and if it wasn't for the smash U.K. hit 'Trainspotting', I might have never watched an independent film.Following the novel surprisingly closely, 'Trainspotting' revolves around a band of friends. Most are heroin junkies, one is an alcoholic psycho and the other is actually a good guy. These friends play soccer together and hang out all the time. They are led by Mark Renton (played by Ewan McGregor - Star Wars, Moulin Rouge) the central character and narrator of this macabre yet intriguing tale.

We watch him as he tries to get off heroin and how this effects his friends -- Spud (Ewen Bremner - Snatch., The Acid House) a silly, naive, never-hurt-a-fly kind of heroin addict who serves as the film's oaf; Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller - Dracula 2000, Hackers) a selfish, sneaky and manipulative heroin junkie obsessed with James Bond who Renton secretly despises; Tommy (Kevin McKidd - The Acid House) the only honest friend of Renton's who is drug and alcohol free; and Francis Begbie (Robert Carlyle - The Full Monty, Riff Raff) a deranged, alcoholic violent madman with a mean temper and a large knife. The story follows Renton's struggle to get off drugs and start a life while interacting with his friends and eventually arranging a drug deal with them at the end to strike it rich.

'Trainspotting' is a nearly perfect picture with extraordinary acting, directing and writing. The performances are nothing short of first-rate in 'Trainspotting'. Ewan McGregor gives perhaps his finest and most unfairly ignored screen performances as our hero and struggling heroin junkie. He plays the role with such authenticity and passion for the craft of acting you'd never think he wasn't a heroin junkie in real life. Ewen Bremner is funny as the film's idiot, but Jonny Lee Miller surprisingly gives an outstanding performance as Renton's slippery so-called friend. Kevin McKidd is good as Tommy and Kelly MacDonald does a fine job with her acting debut as Renton's underage lay who becomes kind of like a mentor to him as the film progresses.

Incidemment il arrive qu'on rigole...

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The Wild & Crazy Indie Smash Hit that Started My Love For Independent Film

Author: Michael Margetis (pmargetis@cox.net) from United States(fin)
29 April 2005

 Mais la plupart du temps ...

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Amazing

Author: newt2small from United Kingdom
25 January 2005

I may only be young but not many films can effect me like 'Trainspotting'.It is able to pull you into the lives of the characters and makes you empathetic to their feelings while still in-keeping with Boyles contemporary look and style of film making.Its give you a different look about being Scottish which many of my friends have pointed out.Ewan Mc Gregor shows his best acting skills he shows that he has an amazing way of keeping you watching.He has proved himself a skilled actor and has contributed greatly to the British film industry.We are thankful.Its a film i can watch over and over again and still smile at the end.NOt one to miss.A must see!!

... c'est la galère

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Take the best orgasm you've ever had multiply it by a thousand and you're still nowhere near "Trainspotting."

Author: Sergeant_Tibbs from Suffolk, England
30 August 2007

In 1996 John Hodge took Irvine Welsh's novel "Trainspotting" and with the help of Danny Boyle's direction created one of the most influential, modern cult classics Britain has to offer. Commonly ranked among the greatest films of the 90s; "Trainspotting" delivers satisfactory viewing every single time. The essential drug film.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

En bas : "Mother superior" le dealer (pusher en l'occurence)

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Brilliantly written and played, incredible dialogue, not for morons

Author: Rusty Mouton (irocz78@hotmail.com) from Orlando
13 November 2003

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

There's a good reason why the imdb recommendations guide, which lists movies that those who liked Trainspotting should also like, lists some of the greatest, most critically acclaimed movies ever made. It's because this is one of them, and rightfully so. It won critical acclaim across the globe for its gritty portrayal of the unfortunate existence of a hapless group of losers and drug addicts, living the low life in Edinburgh, Scotland.

It is a dialogue driven movie, though, so if you don't get the lines, and don't understand the humor, which is very dry at times, and never comes in the form of a 'joke', you'll unknowingly call this movie "slow" or "depressing" or "bad." In a delightfully madcap exchange when Renton announces he's through with heroin, the lines "...he's lacking in moral fiber" "He knows a lot about Sean Connery." "Thats hardly a substitute!" sums up the writing quite well. It only works in the context of the scene itself, but the way it's played and the scene it's set in make it beyond hilarious.

It's one of the most powerfully written and played movies I've ever seen. Renton (Ewan McGregor), the main character, undergoes pseudo metamorphases to illustrate his own attempts at regaining his sanity. His friends, who enter the movie with static roles, illustrate their own inability to change by remaining undeveloped, only sinking deeper into their self-created abysses.Tommy (Kevin McKidd), who falls victim to heroin addiction and dies from it after entering the movie as the epitome of clean, healthy living, undergoes a downward spiral which we flash into occasionally to see how he's being rapidly destroyed by drugs about which he professed "I'm an adult, I can find out for myself."

Though Renton's character is the only one which is fully explored, all of Renton's "so called friends" are cleanly written, well summarized, and do their part to create the air of hostility and pressure which Renton faces in his battle to rid himself of heroin.Begbie, played with powerful energy by Robert Carlyle, adds much needed comic relief with his hilarious and sometimes disturbing violent outbursts, while exposing the ironic nature of his legal addiction to alcohol when played in the background of a heroin movie.

Diane, his love interest, simply adds to the pressure of life, using him for sex and echoing the chorus from his non-drug user friends and family members that he's destroying his life, "poisoning [his] body with that sh!te."It gets depressing at times, as it should, to properly illustrate the horror and depravity that comes with the lifestyle. The "carpet" scene couldn't have been more brilliantly imagined to portray the feeling of emptiness and detachment as Renton nears death from an overdose.Overall, it gets a 10. This movie can't lose when played to an audience with the intelligence, wit, and sense of humor to understand it.