TRAINSPOTTING
A film review by Vince Deehan
Copyright 1996 Vince Deehan
Directed by Danny Boyle. Written by John Hodge Produced by Andrew Macdonald Cast: Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle and Kelly Macdonald. Release Date: 23 February 1996 (UK)
TRAINSPOTTING is the new film from the same team (Boyle, Hodge and Macdonald) who made the 1995 film SHALLOW GRAVE. This film is based on the Irvine Welsh novel of the same name, which has become a big cult favourite in the last couple of years here in the UK. This film has become the focus of a mammoth promotional campaign here, which has reached media saturation and then some. Such has been the intensity of the adverts, billboards and widespread magazine articles that I was seriously considering avoiding this over-hyped film. Out of sheer curiosity I succumbed and I went along to see if it could live up to the hype, which last year's similarly hyped SHALLOW GRAVE failed to do, in my opinion.
The film concerns the lives of a bunch of heroin addicts living in a grotty flat, more than likely an illegal squat, in Edinburgh. The main character in this loose bunch is Renton, an emaciated young man played by Ewan McGregor (totally unrecognisable from his part in SHALLOW GRAVE). The film focuses on his life and how he tries to kick his habit. His "so-called friends", as he terms them, include the suave Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller- HACKERS) who is very popular with the girls and a goldmine of opinions and facts on the career of Sean Connery, and Spud a bewildered and slightly dotty bloke (Ewen Bremner -NAKED) who memorably attends a job interview while high on speed. Robert Carlyle (PRIEST) plays their psychotic, though admittedly drug-free, friend Begbie who never misses a chance to inflict brutal violence on anyone who irritates him, and even those who just happen to be around him at the time.
We see how Renton tries to get off his heroin addiction, which proves an ordeal for him although he appears to be successful, because suddenly the film cuts to London and shows Renton seemingly enjoying himself in the wheeling and dealing of his new found status as an estate agent. His obvious enjoyment with the job is a bit hard to fathom and hard to relate to the Renton we have seen earlier in the film, but it isn't long before his old friends encourage him to take part in a risky drug deal.
The controversy over this films revolves around the notion that the film glamorises drugs. IT DOES NOT. The film makers have bravely decided to show that some people get great pleasure from drugs, and to this end the film shows and describes the blissfulness experienced by Renton after he has just injected himself with heroin. But, whilst the filmmakers recognise the highs it also shows the desperate lows when Renton is trying to get off the drugs and starts suffering the hellish horrors of withdrawl. The film, in my opinion, shows the lows far more vividly than the highs and this leaves the viewer in no doubt that the downside of heroin is an experience which would nullify any potential pleasure. This film is not explicitly anti-drugs, but it leaves it up to the intelligence of the viewer to make the decision for themselves.
There is much humour in the film and it is all not doom and gloom. The scenes involving Sick Boy where he ruminates on the careers of Lou Reed and Sean Connery are especially funny. The thumping dance and rock soundtrack, while very prominent, is never obtrusive and perfectly creates and compliments the mood of the film. The acting throughout is great, though it is hard to like many of the characters who all seem hell bent on oblivion for much of the film.
I was pleasantly surprised by TRAINSPOTTING, in that it is worthy of much of the praise that is being showered on it. It's a brave film that dares to show the realities of heroin addiction and lets the viewer decide for themselves.
Review written on February 27 1996 by Vince Deehan (vince@deehan.demon.co.uk)
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