Ride unlike many others!!

Rating: 8/10 (26 August 1999)

Trainspotting is truly a wild ride down a path that thankfully many of us don't see. We all know how the overuse and dependency of drugs can destroy a life, the gripping struggle many endure to pull themselves out of that toilet, and the ruin they can bring to others around them. But Trainspotting is a movie that shows more than just the dark travails of this ugly trip as the movie 'Basketball Diaries' does to excruciating detail. It reaffirms why life, as is wonderfully described in a Dylan like way by Ewan McGregor in the beginning of the movie, is worth living. What separates this movie and elevates it from other movies that cover this same tone and subject material is that the main character is not totally destroyed and left in a dark hopeless state at the end just to emphasize the why you shouldn't do drugs lesson. The movie ends with great hope and answers McGregor's own opening question of why choose life. And I will say emphatically again it is one hell of a ride. We follow McGregor and his excellently casted mates through all the stages of drug abuse and the Alice in Wonderland like adventures that follow it. Robert Carlye played the volatile Francis Begbie to an Oscar like perfection. His outburst struck me like a dark comedy where you almost hate to laugh but your true honesty leaves you no choice. Definitely one of the most memorable characters from a movie in the 90's. From drug dens to night clubs the cast mixes so well. The humor bounces wildly off the wall like something you get out of a gum ball machine. You never know when it will jump out in front of you so be ready. Danny Boyle deserves a great nod and a raise of the glass for a directing job well done. He chooses shots from great angles and adds all kinds of perfectly captured perks as well. One of my favorite scenes is the shot from the floor as McGregor has just taken a large hit of heroin. He proceeds to sink into a large red rug right through the floor. Every proceeding shot is from this unusual point of view until he is brought out of his dazed state at a local hospital. For someone who has never done heroin (and doesn't particularly plan to) this is one of the feelings I can imagine the drug delivering me to as I watch McGregor dip into the floor. That folks is a sign of a good director. When you have a camera in your hands and you want to have the audience truly feel what something is like why just tell them? Too easy and makes for a dull movie. Which is an incurable disease eighty percent of filmmakers have today. Show them dammit!! Use your imagination and create uniqueness. Make your movie stand out. The soundtrack compliments Trainspotting to a tee and adds to the movie's slick electric settings and rich cinematography. The only slight problem with the movie is that at times some of the Scottish accents get as thick as something out of a broken espresso machine. You will find yourself trying to understand what the hell is being said but just pay attention to what is going on within the scene and you will make it through with flying colors. This movie was not what I expected. It thrilled me in many different ways and added new life to subject material that I am sure hasn't seen the last foot tracks come its way.