Review: Trainspotting

Trainspotting (1996)

Directed by: Danny Boyle

*ing: Ewan Mcgregor
Ewen Bremner
Jonny Lee Miller
Kevin McKidd
Robert Carlyle
Kelly Macdonald

Rating: **** (out of 5)

There have been many attempts at bringing the drugs scene on celluloid. Some have been landmarks (Traffic, Cidade de Deus) and some, complete duds (.45). Trainspotting belongs to the former and is by far the most real and no-holds-barred take I have seen on substance-abuse.

It starts off with Renton (Ewan McGregor) running with a bag full of you-don’t-know-what and then the narrative suddenly dives into flashback without a hint. Renton, Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller) and Spud (Ewen Bremner) are buddies in Edinburgh, addicted to Heroin and can’t get enough of it. They also glorify these Heroin-hits as being better than anything else in this world, even sex. But if you succeed in viewing this film with the right mindset, attitude and perception, it will make you hate drugs.

It takes you on a tour through the lives of a handful drug addicts, their ups and downs, their atrocities, their confused state of affairs, their harrowed families, their perks and jerks, their innocent minds and their meaningless existence.
Thought this film was made in 1996, it has a very fresh and modern feel to it. A couple of scenes will win you over like when Renton dives into the Dirtiest Toilet in Scotland or when he’s thrown out of the room after a rompy-sex-session.

Ewan McGregor is mind-blowing an on-off-junkie who is so full of dilemma that he is injecting himself one day and giving it all up the other. He wasn’t very famous when he did this film but he proves he’s bound to be famous. He narrates throughout the film with a very rich Scottish accent lending it more originality.
Ewen Bremner as the all time stoned Spud is howlarious but also arises plenty of pity with those loser expressions.
Jonny Lee Miller as Sick Boy and Kevin McKidd as Tommy fit the bill with perfection.
Robert Carlyle as the only non-dope Begbie stands out as the frustratingly violent gangster. Kelly Macdonald is super hot in a pea-sized role.

Trainspotting is an experience. An experience that will make you experience things you have never experienced. The director (Danny Boyle) makes us witness the filth, the shame, the risks, the troubles and the sorrow, drugs can bring into your life. And he does it all with finesse, class and tactfulness without making it preachy for a second. WATCH IT.

- Abbas Aziz Dalal.