For my English class

Rating: Null/10 (2 October 2011)

Danny Boyle's Trainspotting is a film about the seeming everyday life of the average heroin addict in Edinburgh, Scotland. Based on the book of the same name, written by Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting focuses in on Mark Renton, a young man who cyclically drops his heroin habit, and jumps back on. His group of friends, ranging from fellow junkies Sick Boy and Spud to a psychopathic, adrenaline-addicted Begbie, keep him tied to his old habits, whether he wants to be or not.
The film is as dark as one would expect the life of a junkie to be. Boyle uses dim lighting in already murky and dirty sets to denote a sense of muck. The soundtrack can only be called relevant, grabbing music from the popular UK artists of the day. The music coordinates with the scenes well, whether it be a thumping house-beat in a nightclub, or an immersive, mid-hallucination psychedelic piece. The dirt and grime in the scenes is almost tangible. Boyle works his characters into a believable world of drug abuse, petty crime, and filth.
The film opens with Renton and his friends fleeing from what one can only assume are police officers. Mark Renton, played by Ewan McGregor, narrates over the scene, speaking about why he and his friends choose to commit themselves to drugs, to choose whatever it is they have chosen, over what Renton calls "life," which includes things such as a family, career, and a big television. Renton struggles to answer the question as to "why?" throughout the movie, while also struggling with the ins and outs of a junkie's life. Behind the grit and explicit material, there is a brilliant story, waiting to be cracked open.