Perhaps the best British film since Brief Encounter!

Rating: 10/10 (7 January 2005)

I watched Trainspotting under the recommendation of my dad. He actually bought it for me for my 15th birthday, telling me that he thought it should be shown at schools as anti-drugs education. Now, after several viewings, I believe he was wrong; not about the undeniable quality of the film, but over the idea that it was anti-drugs.
More on that later. The film itself is a powerful piece of work, a recipe of equal parts comedy, tragedy and plain disgusting. The director Danny Boyle leaves his mark all over this film; bright colours stand out in an otherwise bleak landscape. The soundtrack is perhaps one of the best compilations ever assembled, tracks such as Born Slippy and Perfect Day in particular. But what perhaps makes these tracks all the more powerful is the incredible editing. Editors often do not get the recognition they deserve, in Trainspotting this has never been more obvious. At the start, when he gets his first hit while he gets knocked down in the football match is fantastic, just one example of an amazing performance from the unsung member of the cast.
And a very good cast it is too. No one stands out as a dud, even Irvine Welsh (author of the novel Trainspotting) as Mikey Forrester. Robert Carlyle is at his psychotic best, Jonny Lee Miller debuts as Sick Boy and Ewan McGregor is fantastic, playing the part of Renton to perfection.
Back to my dad. Kinda. Trainspotting is most definitely not an anti-drugs film. it throws you in a very personal situation with Renton, without making judgements on the drug use. Of course it shows the terrible effects of a drug addiction, the baby dies, Tommy dies; and yet he openly admits just how good the hit is. We end the film with Renton out of the addiction, without the same scars that we see in a more moralistic, more graphic without being as emotionally affecting, film such as Requiem for a Dream. (which somehow finds itself in the top 60, although thankfully not in the top 50!) Trainspotting is clearly a better film as a result, because it is actually a FILM, with a real story to tell, rather than using heavy-handed scare tactics. Cinema should be about entertaining primarily, and while one way to entertain is intellectually by making you think about the subject matter, this should never overtake the enjoyment of the film for the viewer.
The film itself excels in managing to balance dark humour with the weighty subject matter, and still have an uplifting ending, reminiscent stylisticly of A Clockwork Orange, (a film whose influence we see in the club scene a la Milk Bar). It is endlessly watchable, you get something new from it every time you see it. A fantastic film, rather than a replica of the book (equally good), which i would recommend to any film lover.