Great direction, acting, photography, music but grim story

Rating: 6/10 (28 September 2004)

First I should say that I saw this on a new DVD called a Collectors' edition (or something similar). Included was an option for captions, which helped a lot with the Scottish accents. This is a very grim story lightened at times with comic dialogue and situations, but the viewer carries away only a feeling of horror. Drug addiction and what it does to the lives of all it touches, including infants, is the overriding theme. At the same time one also feels the horror of day-to-day life for these young men with little faith in themselves and despair at the dead end of their young lives. Ewan McGregor is particularly fine as Renton, the man who seems to be succeeding at making a life for himself without drugs, but this is up to question at the end of the film. The rest of the cast demonstrated great skill at ensemble playing, a tribute to the director.