Trainspotting: Choose something else

Man, this is one disgusting-ass movie. About 10 minutes in we’re already wading through shit. To its credit, there seems to be more going on here than just trying to gross folks out. The message seems to be “heroin is bad, but life is kinda boring without it.” Or something. The story sort of dances around heroin, as it wanders in and out of the limelight, and the story is thematically uneven, although I guess a lot of it plays on the paradoxes facing anyone getting clean when their friends all use. I haven’t had any such misfortune, so maybe I don’t get the resonances right. Artistically it’s intriguing: the cinematography is spot on, and somehow beauty and horror comingle in a non-jarring way. The actors are alright in a scruffily Scottish sort of way; I guess this really lauched Ewan McGregor’s career (which means, in a roundabout way, the ghastly Star Wars prequels are Trainspotting‘s fault). I’m certain this film is good, but somehow I didn’t get the right resonances, probably because the characters and situations are all alien to me. What can I say, I’m privileged and lucky and elitist.

Also, no actual trainspotters appear in the film. What’s up with that? Trainspotting’s a hobby bizarre enough to make heroin addiction seem downright sensible.

See also: IMDB, Wikipedia.