Despite The Hype It`s Carlyle`s Film

Rating: 8/10 (20 January 2004)

TRAINSPOTTING exploded in a burst of hype in 1996 . I`m not sure if this helped the movie . It`s a good movie but no film can live upto the amount of hype this one got , compared to TRAINSPOTTING the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy was a production that went straight to video with very little fanfare
The script was Oscar nominated and deservedly so since Irvine Welsh`s cult low concept novel was deemed to be basically unfilmable , but there is a slight problem in that an all important scene where Begbie stands waiting for a train to take him away from Leith hasn`t been included . This passage from the book explains the title . What suprised me though what wasn`t included in the Oscar nominations , for example the editing where Rents hides under the bedsheets only to be met by Begbie is superb and talking of Begbie he`s without doubt one of the most evil characters ever to have appeared on the silver screen and this is down mainly to Robert Carlyle`s heart stopping performance . Ask yourself this : If another actor had played Francis Begbie would TRAINSPOTTING have been half as good ? Of course not . It`s like watching DIRTY HARRY without Andrew Robinson or GOODFELLOWS without Joe Pesci and it`s shocking that Carlyle wasn`t even nominated at the Oscars for best supporting actor
As a personal footnote I`d just like to add I was born in Leith where this story is set . I do hope that gives me some street cred