Trainspotting (1996)

“This was to be my final hit, but let’s be clear about this. There’s final hits and final hits. What kind was this to be? ” – Renton

Number of Times Seen – 2 (video in ’97 and 9 Aug 2016)

Brief Synopsis – A junkie in Scotland tries to get his life on track despite being surrounded by friends who keep pulling him back down.

My Take on it – I saw this movie about twenty years ago and have not had many nice thoughts about it since then.

This is mainly due to the fact that I had no clue what was going on most of the time since the characters all speak in VERY heavy Scottish accents the whole time.

THis time, I decided to be smart and use the English subtitles and things became so much clearer to me that I actually enjoyed watching this film despite it being completely off the wall.

I don’t know much about the drug culture of Scotland, but this film seems to portray a very desperate and difficult lifestyle and (to me at least) gives an impression of what life in those kind of circumstances could be like.

Ewe McGregor leads a (future) all star cast that includes Robert Carlyle, Johnny Lee Miller, Ewen Bremner, Kelly MacDonald and Kevin McKidd.

It’s quite funny seeing all of them so young, but their talent is still apparent under the cloaks of druggies.

It’s easy to see Director Danny Boyle’s hand in many of the esoteric shots here.

I liked the way that they were able to merge some very serious scenes with a bit of humor to lighten things a bit.

Life like this doesn’t seem simple at all.

I’m quite glad I chose to watch this again despite having not so pleasant memories of my first time watching it.

Bottom Line – Much better upon second viewing and it really gives us a great impression of what junkies go through.  McGregor is superb as the lead and it’s funny seeing him here in his youth.  The rest of the cast is also quite talented and some of them have really made names for themselves based on their performances here.  The accents and language are a bit difficult to catch the entire time, so I recommend you turn on the subtitles while watching this. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Kelly Macdonald got the part when the production crew were handing out flyers across Glasgow, for anyone eager to audition. When Danny Boyle first laid eyes on her, in a corridor with a plain hairdo surrounded by many glamorous girls, he knew she was the one. He wanted someone unknown, so no-one would guess a 19-year-old is playing a schoolgirl. Macdonald still has the promotional flyer at home. (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy

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