a good movie for the kids

Rating: 9/10 (26 January 1999)

if you know anything about this movie, it should be that this is not an easy movie to watch. boyle's attempts to show us the dark side of the counter-culture's remains in 90's england are haunting and surprisingly original in the been-there, done-that environment that is my generation of hollywood. he shows us the whole thing--ecstasy of the high and agony of the low--but in the end he has more to say than just the tired 80's moral that drugs can be fun, but in the end you're best off to say no.
no, boyle reminds us of the pressures and difficulties facing mcgregor's disenchanted scottish twenty-something, mark renton. he brings us into his life with strikingly personal monologues, and we struggle along with him to find a way out of the living grave he's dug for himself. we see the ins and outs of the heroin junky's life, and we're surprised to find ourselves laughing at it's filth and unattractiveness. but in the end...well, in the end i guess we get to see what we want. but we're haunted by memories of the past two hours, and we don't know whether to admire renton for his strength or despise him for not going back to drag his friends into the world of the living. it's a tough movie to watch, but worth every minute spent--whether laughing or crying or shrinking away--for its courage and newness and dazzling vision amidst a new wave of recycled films with the same old twists and turns like so many old roller-coasters. it's a film that reminds us time and again with its powerful imagery just how special movies can be when they dare to try something new.