Trainspotting

Trainspotting 1996

• Director: Danny Boyle
• Based on the book by Irvine Welsh
• Cast: Ewan MacGregor, Ewen Bremner, Johnny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle, Kelly Macdonald, Peter Mullen, Shirley Henderson
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Ewan MacGregor – Our Kind of Traitor, Mortdecai, August Osage County, Jack the Giant Slayer, The Impossible, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Perfect Sense, The Ghost Writer, The Island, Star Wars, Big Fish, Young Adam, Moulin Rouge, Little Voice, Velvet Goldmine, A Life Less Ordinary, Brassed Off, Trainspotting, Shallow Grave
• Ewen Bremner – Wonder Woman, Snowpiercer, Jack the Giant Slayer, Perfect Sense, Hallam Foe, The Prince of Jylland
• Robert Carlyle – SGU Stargate Universe, Stone of Destiny, 28 Weeks Later, Flood, Black and White, Once upon a Time in the Midlands, The Full Monty, Carla’s Song, Go Now, Riff-Raff, Hamish Macbeth
• Kelly Macdonald – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Decoy Bride, No Country for Old Men, Nanny McPhee, Tristram Shandy, Intermission, The Girl in the Café, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Finding Neverland, Intermission, Gosford Park, My Life So Far, Elizabeth
• Peter Mullen – Sunshine on Leith, Top of the Lake, The Liability, Tyrannosaur, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Stone of Destiny, Boy A, Children of Men, Young Adam, The Magdalena Sisters, My Name Is Joe, Braveheart, Shallow Grave, Riff-Raff
• Shirley Henderson – Filth, Life During Wartime, Doctor Who, The Taming of the Shrew Re-told, Harry Potter, Tristram Shandy, Intermission, Once upon a Time in the Midlands, Topsy-Turvy, Hamish Macbeth, Rob Roy
• Why? Well, it’s a classic now, isn’t it?
• Seen: Once or twice before. Now 4 January 2020

             Oh, they’re so young, all these actors who are (nowadays) big film stars!

       Mark Renton (McGregor) is a heroin addict. He loves the feeling but in a moment of clarity (well, sort of) he quits cold turkey.

       He has a gang of equally loser mates, all addicted to something. For example, Begbie (Carlyle) is addicted to violence. And Sick Boy (Miller), is addicted to James Bond.

       And then Renton becomes addicted to Diane (Macdonald).

       Young men and women of Scotland in the 90’s, searching, groping, longing, losing. It doesn’t take long for Renton to return to heroin.

       It’s revolting, absurd, funny and tragic and rather incredible. No wonder it’s a classic.

4 * of 5 (Hal says 3*)