Trainspotting movie storyline. Is the rhetorical question asked by Renton (Ewan McGregor) early on in the movie. That sums up the complete hold that heroin exerts on the lives of main characters of the movie and the horrendous consequences of this addiction.
I have heard that Trainspotting has been criticized as glorifing drugs. People making this comment must be out of their minds. I have never seen such a powerful indictment of heroin and its effects and I ever had any inclination to try the stuff then a single viewing of the movie cured me forever.
Most movies that I watch leave no lasting impression on me but many of the scenes in Trainspotting will stay with me for a very long time. There are moments that make you laugh out loud (Spud’s job interview for example) and others that are some of the most powerful and disturbing film images that I have ever seen.
Danny Boyle and co. have do a marvellous job of making a film about real people and real lives while making it compelling viewing at the same time. The soundtrack is excellent just to round off the experience.
Trainspotting is a 1996 British black comedy crime drama film directed by Danny Boyle, and starring Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle, and Kelly MacDonald in her acting debut. Based on the novel of the same name by Irvine Welsh, the film was released in the United Kingdom on 23 February 1996.
The Academy Award nominated screenplay by John Hodge follows a group of heroin addicts in an economically depressed area of Edinburgh and their passage through life. Beyond drug addiction, other themes in the film are exploration of the urban poverty and squalor in “culturally rich” Edinburgh.
The film has been ranked 10th by the British Film Institute (BFI) in its list of Top 100 British films of all time. In 2004 the film was voted the best Scottish film of all time in a general public poll. A sequel, T2 Trainspotting, was released on January 27, 2017.
Trainspotting (1996)
Directed by: Danny Boyle
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle, Kelly Macdonald, Peter Mullan, James Cosmo, Eileen Nicholas, Susan Vidler, Shirley Henderson
Screenplay by: John Hodge
Production Design by: Kave Quinn
Cinematography by: Brian Tufano
Film Editing by: Masahiro Hirakubo
Costume Design by: Rachael Fleming
Art Direction by: Tracey Gallacher
MPAA Rating: R for graphic heroin use and resulting depravity, strong language, sex, nudity and some violence.
Distributed by: Miramax Films
Release Date: February 23, 1996
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