Trainspotting (1996)

Film: Trainspotting

Director: Danny Boyle

Country: UK

Released: February 1996

Runtime: 93 minutes

Genre: Drama

Studio: Channel Four Films

Influenced: Lynne Ramsay, Guy Ritchie, Edgar Wright, Tom Tykwer, Shane Meadows

Trainspotting is a loose adaptation of Irvine Welsh's novel of the same name, which was a collection of interconnected short stories. Director Danny Boyle and screenwriter John Hodge – who also worked together on their 1994 breakthrough film, Shallow Grave – selected specific stories and characters from the book to try and create a cohesive film narrative. The title, which relates to the hobby of rail enthusiasts documenting the comings & goings of trains, is used symbolically in Trainspotting to represent a futile or obsessive pursuit, much like the characters' obsession with heroin. To the extent that there is a narrative in the film's first hour, Trainspotting follows the life of Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) and his friends as they navigate the world of working-class Edinburgh and heroin addiction. There's something anarchic about the episodic, fast-paced and darkly comic nature of the film, and I’m not sure what’s more horrific – people shooting up in the same room as a small baby or the sight of the “worst toilet in Scotland”. 

Renton's struggle to break free from addiction forms the central narrative. He attempts to clean up and escape the cycle of drug abuse but is constantly pulled back by the allure of heroin. The film's opening scene, featuring Renton and his friends running through the streets being pursued by security guards, is a memorable example of Boyle's kinetic style. The "Choose Life" monologue, in which Renton sarcastically lists the many mundane aspects of modern life, quickly became an iconic moment in British culture. The idea behind the monologue is that rampant consumerism and a pressure to conform is causing people to live inauthentic lives, stifling creativity and creating a sense of emptiness. Trainspotting is also uniquely focused on issues closer to home, not least in the memorable great outdoors scene in which Renton rants about how “it’s shite being Scottish”, especially being ruled by "effete arseholes" in England. Three years after the film's release, a devolved Scottish Parliament would be established in Edinburgh.

Irvine Welsh himself has a cameo in the film as a dealer, providing Renton with the opium suppositories that cause him to dive into the toilet, in one of many surreal moments. Another occurs when Renton is forced to go cold turkey by his parents, and is barricaded into his childhood bedroom. As Renton's heroin withdrawal intensifies, he experiences hallucinations and disturbing visions, notably the dead, crawling baby on the ceiling. This visceral and emotionally charged depiction of addiction was enough to put me off heroin for life when I watched the film as a teenager. Another memorable scene – that I remember everyone talking about at the time – is Spud soiling himself in the bed, a darkly humorous and grim depiction of the dehumanising effects of addiction. After an incredible run of scenes in the first half, the tone of the film gets darker following the death of the baby, while the plot gets more conventional after Renton goes to London, as Trainspotting morphs into a straightforward crime drama with a surprise twist.

Trainspotting's production budget was relatively low, at around £1.5mn ($2mn), but it was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $70mn worldwide. The film won several BAFTA Awards, including Best Director for Danny Boyle, while Ewan McGregor's performance as Renton was particularly praised and helped launch his career. Many of the other actors, including Kelly Macdonald, Jonny Lee Miller and Robert Carlyle, also went on to have successful careers in TV & film. The film's impact extended beyond cinema, influencing fashion, music and youth culture at the time, especially its soundtrack which made extensive use of pop music, including tracks from artists like Iggy Pop, Lou Reed and Underworld. Boyle's signature style of creative camera angles and fast-paced editing backed by a memorable soundtrack would be replicated in later successes such as 28 Days Later (2002) and Slumdog Millionaire (2008), but nothing he did was as groundbreaking as Trainspotting.