My personal favourite

Rating: 10/10 (23 August 2013)

To me, there is nothing I have seen that comes closer to a perfect film as Trainspotting does. Not a single scene is wasted, which is a difficult task when you're telling a story about character first and plot second. No other film mixes substance and style so effectively. In fact, there is no real line between the two.
Above all, we are made to sympathize with Renton. He's an addict, a liar, and a person whose lifestyle results in the death of innocents. He's also smart as they come and, perhaps ironically, the moral centre of the story. Lots is currently being made of the literary "anti- hero", but I'm sure Danny Boyle and certainly Irvine Welsh had no formal conception of this Americanized creature. Mark Renton is compelling because he is the best we've got. In the story's universe of tragically early burnouts and psychopaths, can you imagine anyone better?