Lessons in philosophy, sociology and politics delivered by heroin addicts

Rating: 8/10 (17 February 2017)

An unnerving forage into the drug-addled mind of a youth(ish) confined to "living" in mid-1990's Britain. But as disillusioned main protagonist/narrator tells us from the outset in response to the film's ironic message 'choose life'; "why would anyone want to do a thing like that?" The film is bookended with two pulse-pounding sequences guaranteed to have your heart hammering along to the beat of Iggy Pop's iconic 'Lust for Life' and Underworld's eerily melancholic 'Born Slippy', respectively. Trainspotting is laden with deep-seeded regret, apathy and bitterness, most of which is robotically (by design) spewed out in the form of diatribes by Ewan McGregor's Renton; a character who is very much presented as a bystander within his own life, despite often inadvertently being the catalyst for many of the film's most dramatic twists, turns and blackly-tragic/comedic moments. At it's heart, Danny Boyle's film angrily presents us - and his characters - with a simple choice: choose 'life' or don't.