Back in the 1990’s, it seemed that a lot of films were coming out that explored the darkness of the drug scene with some of them being very hard to watch. Trainspotting is one of those films that gained a lot of critical acclaim and that is why I chose to watch it for today. The film stars Ewan McGregor (Velvet Goldmine) as Renton, a guy who has a little bit of a problem in good ole Edinburgh, Scotland. You see Renton is mixed up in the heroin scene of Edinburgh and no matter how hard he tries to get out of it, it seems that either his friends or the allure of the drugs sucks him right back in. He’ll have to clean up quick before the scene eats him up alive. The film also stars Jonny Lee Miller (Hackers) as Sick Boy, Kevin McKidd (Dog Soldiers) as Tommy, Robert Carlyle (28 Weeks Later) as Begbie, Peter Mullan (Braveheart) as Swanney, Ewen Bremner (Snatch) as Spud, Kelly Macdonald (Boardwalk Empire) as Diane, James Cosmo (Braveheart) as Mr. Renton, Eileen Nicholas (The Quiet Ones) as Mrs. Renton, and the film was directed by Danny Boyle (28 Days Later).
This is a very hard film to watch at times and so I am going to warn you that if you can’t stomach this kind of stuff then turn away. Every single person that I have talked to about this film has said the same exact thing to me and that is the dead baby scene is just way too messed up and I don’t get the point of it. I can take most things in life like zombie babies, but that was just way too much for me to handle. The film may have bee prevalent at that time, but I think it is still prevalent to today. There was a big issue back then with heroin and HIV and so I feel the film was raising awareness to the issue and how tough of a habit is to quit. Now you look at today’s generation and it’s a problem again. I love British cinema because it so over the top and I love the language. Ewan McGregor is absolutely fantastic in the film and I love what they did with make up as well. They make him look very sick during the film to sort of normal which was fantastic as they emphasized the drug habit. You can see Danny Boyle’s style of filmmaking shine through as there is similarities in this film with other works as far as cinematography is concerned. Like I said before, there is a lot of imagery in this film that you may not agree with or want to watch so I tell you to proceed with caution when watching it. I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade.
365moviesin365dayschallenge 