Promising early work from Danny Boyle

Rating: Null/10 (25 November 2004)

I first saw this film on a grainy, seventeen year old TV with a 14 inch screen and awful speakers - and even then I thought it was an exceptional piece of cinema. On a second viewing, this time with surround sound and a bigger screen, I was even more impressed. The film has razor-sharp casting ( Ewan McGregor as Renton and Johnny Lee Miller as Sick Boy are particularly good) and an intelligent screenplay - both of which are absolutely essential in making a film stand out from the tick the box insipid trash Hollywood oozes upon the world. However, the cinematography, editing and soundtrack are thrillingly, excitingly original, and credit for that must surely go to Danny Boyle.
Confusing and surreal use of colour and detail on walls (for eg the opening shot of the wall with "Welcome to Mother Superior's" and the door of the Volcano Bar as Diane exits) keep you involved and intrigued, while the more surreal incidents (Renton's swim in the toilet and later "leap" from the wall at the pub to Mother Superior's floor) give the story a fevered tinge of unreality that drags us into the heroin nightmare without detracting from the naked realism. There is also clever use of Steadicam and hand-held shots (my favourite is as the taxi pulls up at the Emergency ward.)
Indeed, Boyle's directorial style in this film reminded me strongly at times of Stanley Kubrick - particularly his use of swoopy Steadicam shots down corridors and through maze like doors. Unfortunately, however, this gets out of hand at the Volcano bar, with the Steadicam shot advancing slowly on Spud and Tommy sitting, legs sprawled, under the "Moloko" signs on the wall nodding a little too strongly to Kubrick's striking beginning of "A Clockwork Orange". Come to that, elements throughout Trainspotting reminded me of Clockwork Orange, from Begbie's insane acts of "ultraviolence" in the pub and the "droog" like relationship between the five main characters to Renton's comment to the judge "Thankyou Sir, with God's help I'll beat this terrible affliction," and later "I'd never been so lonely, never in all my puff,", all of which sound straight out Kubrick's 1971 masterpiece.
All in all, this was a satisfying film, presenting the horror of heroin addiction without lecturing the audience (we are not invited to judge the actions of Renton and his friends, just to watch their lives "p*** away" to nothing.) Had I seen this film at its original release in 1996, I would have thought Boyle an exciting and highly promising new director; with the benefit of hindsight, having seen the insipid "The Beach" and "28 Days Later", which was merely adequate without being bad or excellent, I wonder instead what went wrong.
7/10
PS Did anyone else notice the awful continuity error: When they first enter the hotel room to do the big drug deal, there is no vanity mirror and light above the sink. Later, whilst the others are sleeping, Renton looks at himself with a mirror and light that have materialised above the sink. Spooky....