This Movie is Rated R – For Graphic Heroin Use and Resulting Depravity, Strong Language, Sex, Nudity and Some Violence
Trainspotting is a dark, gritty, but also humorous look into the world of heroin addiction. It doesn’t shy away from the grim reality of it all, but at the same time isn’t preachy about the pitfalls of drug use. This is another phenomenal Danny Boyle/Ewan McGregor partnership.
Renton (Ewan McGregor) is a young guy living in Scotland. His whole life revolves around drugs. He is either finding creative ways of getting money (i.e. stealing) to buy them or partaking of them. Although he and his friends will take pretty much anything put in front of them, heroin is the drug of choice.
Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller) is a sharp dresser that is obsessed with Sean Connery and James Bond films. Spud (Ewen Bremmer) is a sweet guy, but doesn’t rank very high on the intelligence scale. Unlike the others, Tommy (Kevin McKidd) doesn’t take drugs, but he does enjoy hanging out with the rest of the guys at the pub. Begbie (Robert Carlyle) doesn’t do drugs either, although he drinks like mad. He also has an extremely bad temper, it doesn’t take much to set him off and then he becomes very violent.
At one point Renton decides to go off heroin. He uses the “Sick Boy” method, which involves boarding yourself into a room with cans of soup, vanilla ice cream, various over the counter remedies and three strategically placed buckets (you can probably guess what they are for). You then ride out the withdrawal. He is successful and is clean for a while, but then the cycle begins again.
We watch, as the group of friends, go through various interpersonal relationship issues, drug experiences, run ins with the law and other assorted tragedies. This is such an amazing movie that really sucks you in. There are many ups and downs throughout and it’s impossible to guess where everyone is going to end up.
While the entire cast is very good, Ewan McGregor is the one that really stands out. It’s not just the fact that he has the main part, plus does a lot of narration throughout. He completely inhabits the character and makes it all so real. Plus even though he isn’t always the nicest guy, you can’t help but root for him, which I think has a lot to do with Ewan’s charm and skill as an actor. Another bonus of the film, lots of lovely Scottish accents.
Some of my favorite quotes:
Renton – “I choose not to choose life. I choose something else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you’ve got heroin.”
Renton – “The Sick Boy method.”
Mother Superior – “Well, it really worked for him, eh?”
Renton – “Well, he’s always been lacking in moral fiber.”
Mother Superior – “He knows a lot about Sean Connery.”
Renton – “That’s hardly a substitute.”
Renton – “We call him Mother Superior due to the length of his habit.”
Renton – “Take Sick Boy for instance. He came off junk at the same time as me. Not because he wanted to you understand, but just to annoy me. Just to show me how easily he could do it, thereby downgrading my own struggle. Sneaky f*cker, don’t you think?”
Renton – “Spud had done well. I was proud of him. He f*cked up good and proper.”
Sick Boy – “I mean heroin’s got great f*cking personality.”
Renton – “The streets are awash with drugs you can have for unhappiness and pain and we took them all. F*ck it, we would have injected vitamin C if only they’d made it illegal.”
Renton – “No, thank you. I’ll proceed directly to the intravenous injection of hard drugs, please.”
Renton – “I can’t believe you did that.”
Sick Boy – “I got a good price for it. Rents, I need the money.”
Renton – “It was my f*ckin’ telly!”
Jan
P.S. Comments are welcomed. Scroll towards the bottom of the page (below the spoiler section) to where it says “Click Here to Make a Comment”. Or on entries from previous days there is a comment box.
Following is additional information about the movie that contains spoilers. If you don’t want to be spoiled don’t read any further.
When Allison discovers that her baby dead is so tragic. Plus that fact that she was probably dead for a while before anyone noticed is incredibly disturbing.
The scene when Renton goes to Mother Superior (Peter Mullan) for one hit to get him by until his next Methadone dose is terrific. First off I love Ewan and Peter together, they have this great spark when they have scenes together and the banter between them is wonderful. Then he ODs and the reality of the situation comes crashing down. Side note: Ewan and Peter are also in a film together called “Young Adam” which is worth checking out.
I liked Renton’s parents taking the tough love approach with him. They finally realized the only way they were going to get him off heroin was to take matters into their own hands. Even though it would be an incredibly difficult and painful experience for them, they loved him enough to do it anyway. The whole withdrawal part was incredibly done. The bit with the baby crawling on the ceiling was so creepy.
