sex, drugs and rock and roll

Rating: 7/10 (5 March 2004)

One of the cult-movies made in the nineties, often compared (a bit wrongly) to "A Clockwork Orange" (1971), "Trainspotting " is the revelation of a new talented director: Danny Boyle. If his previous movie "Shallow Grave" (1994) was not accepted unanimously, "Trainspotting" was critically praised and made a beautiful commercial way, notably in Great-Britain.
Danny Boyle's opus is served by a galaxy of actors who are all outstanding (Ewan McGregor and Robert Carlyle at head) and whose characters are well-rounded. Moreover, McGregor's voice-over makes the movie more thrilling. It is to be noted that if Boyle perfectly used this device in "Trainspotting" it will not be the case four years later with Leonardo Di Caprio in "The Beach" (2000).
Then, we deal with a dramatic story, it is indisputable but it is told on a comedy tone so as to avoid the movie to fall in absolute horror and the sordid and of course, this is often black humor that prevails.
"Trainspotting" confirms Boyle's master of the directing too. Nevertheless, it includes faults that spoil somewhat the movie. For example, this one, by moments evokes a clip. Besides, in connection with music, there is an excellent original soundtrack even if sometimes we feel that its constant and discreet use surcharges the movie. On another hand, through Mark's trouble with heroin, this is a realistic vision of a British society undermined by unemployment in the eighties. Even if the last movie is full of optimism, it nonetheless remains ambiguous. Indeed, as Mark walks on the bridge and enumerates the things he will know, the picture becomes increasingly blurred. It probably means that Mark's future will not probably be bright...
"Trainspotting" is a vivid, sometimes raw movie (the sequences that involves heroin) but never boring. It deserves to be watched.