Trainspotting
Composite Score: 84.97
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle, Kelly Macdonald, Peter Mullan, James Cosmo, Eileen Nicholas, Susan Vidler, and Shirley Henderson
Director: Danny Boyle
Writer: John Hodge
Genres: Drama, Coming-of-Age
MPAA Rating: R for graphic heroin use and resulting depravity, strong language, sex, nudity, and some violence
Box Office: $16.77 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
Trainspotting is Danny Boyle’s film adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s novel of the same name about a group of young heroin addicts in Edinburgh. Ewan McGregor plays the film’s lead, Renton, a druggie who might want to quit heroin but can’t quite seem to bring himself to fully kick the habit. He’s joined by a motley crew of compatriots, played by Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, and Robert Carlyle – fellow druggies Spud and Sick Boy, strait-laced athlete Tommy, and headcase alcoholic Begbie, respectively. The film received an Academy Award nomination for its Adapted Screenplay, and it currently sits as the 170th highest-rated film on IMDB, loved and/or respected for its honest portrayal of drug abuse and of that particular subculture, considered by most to be one of the best British films of all time.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
For someone considering watching Trainspotting, I think you probably know what you’re getting into. If, for some odd reason, you don’t know what all is contained in this wild ride of a film, I’d encourage you to check that MPAA Rating above. If all of that sounds palatable enough for you in film format, I think you’re probably good to watch this film. If you aren’t ready for those levels of depravity, struggle, and legitimately difficult subject matter, it might be better to hold off on this one for now because it can be scarring for someone who goes into this film blind. For real, this film is wild and goes to places that you rarely see mainstream films go, so don’t go in thinking it’s just Scottish Lock Stock or something like that. This gets much heavier.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
The very reasons for avoiding Trainspotting also happen to be a large part of what makes the film so great – not because it’s edgy or pushes the limits or anything like that – simply because they resemble real life at its most extreme. Yes, the film features an accidental drug deal for a large sum of money, a man fully immersing himself in a toilet to retrieve suppositories, and a guy shooting a dog with a pellet gun to make it attack its owner. But it also features authentic discussions on addiction and the reasons why so many addicts can’t bring themselves to quit. It takes on the issues that drive young people to addiction in the first place – resistance to the status quo, perceived failings of the system, and the like – and gives them the credence they deserve. It contains one of the wildest horror sequences in a non-horror film I’ve ever seen. And it does all of this while maintaining the positive and cynical attitude espoused by its leading man and narrator. It is a film that sets out to talk about so much and set the audience thinking about all of it that somehow manages to do just that. In a world full of films like Us or Amsterdam or Cloud Atlas that so often bite off more than they can chew in an overstuffed runtime, Trainspotting manages to be more entertaining and more compelling within a quick hour and thirty-three minutes.
Trainspotting is a smashing success of the druggie dramedy genre, offering plenty of social commentary, humor for all types, and compellingly memorable characters on its way to all-time greatness. Its heavy subject matter marks it as a film that you’ve got to be in a proper headspace to watch, but when that headspace is active, there’s few films that hit quite like this one. It is currently available to stream with a Showtime subscription or to rent on most other streaming platforms.
