"Trainspotting" is a surrealistic, sometimes humorous, sometimes muddled, study of heroin-addicted punks in Edinburgh, Scotland. As a disclaimer, I have to admit that some of the dialogue was lost in translation. [Maybe Miramax will close-caption it someday]. Perhaps I'd pick it all up in another three viewings, but there's only a few scenes that I'd really like to see again, and those have no dialogue.

Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) is a young, dissipated
heroin addict. He is almost proud of his 'choice',
although for some reason he briefly tries to lead
the straight life that he has already rejected.
His friends are Spud (Ewen Bremner), Sick Boy
(Jonny Lee Miller) and Tommy (Kevin McKidd). An
older, violent friend is Begbie (Robert Carlyle).
Our leads get into random misadventures such as
casual sex, dealing drugs, and shooting dogs
with rifles. Sometimes these scenes work, and are
interesting and even funny. Other times, the
film is simply a mess, with the difficult to
understand accents a further obstacle.

The most memorable scene involves Renton falling into
'the worst toilet in Scotland'. It's truly gross,
which in this case makes it all the more enjoyable.
Another scene worth a look has Renton suffering through
heroin withdrawal: he sees a dead baby crawling on
the ceiling towards him. Of course, films have had
drug fantasy sequences for years, at least since
'pink elephants on parade' in "Dumbo", but well done
surrealism is always welcome.

Still, I feel that "Trainspotting" is over-rated.
The film may be embraced for its style rather than
its content. The characters, even including Renton,
lack depth. A few of the supporting characters have
some personality, especially hell raiser Begbie and
obligatory, underaged love interest Diane. But Begbie's
character isn't explored enough to be understood,
while Spud, Tommy, and Sick Boy seem mostly interchangeable.
Even the originality of "Trainspotting" is in question,
with some similarity to "A Clockwork Orange" (the Moloko
bar, the middle-class parents) and "The Basketball
Diaries" (crime, addiction, withdrawal), among others.

"Trainspotting" must be one of the strangest films
ever to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted
Screenplay. John Hodge adapted the Irvine Welsh
novel, and Danny Boyle was the director. Ewan
McGregor has since gone on to commercial success,
landing the role of Obi-Won Kenobi in the second
Star Wars trilogy. (48/100)



Recommended: No