"A wild, freeform, Rabelaisian trip through the darkest recesses of Edinburgh low-life, focusing on Mark Renton and his attempt to give up his heroin habit, and how the latter affects his relationship with family and friends: Sean Connery wannabe Sick Boy, dimbulb Spud, psycho Begbie, 14-year-old girlfriend Diane, and clean-cut athlete Tommy, who's never touched drugs but can't help being curious about them."


First of all, I need to point out that half of the time I couldn't understand what the characters were saying because of their Scottish accents. I didn't have subtitles on, and so I have no idea if I missed any important dialogue lol. I had wanted to watch this movie for a pretty long time, but never got around to it before we analyzed the intro in film- and tv-production class.

The casting in this movie is great. Specifically, Ewan McGregor is an actor that I really like because of his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequels (don't judge me haha they're GOOD). I think all the other actors fit their characters pretty perfectly, I haven't seen them in any other movies though. The soundtrack is very nice as well, featuring songs like Lust For Life by Iggy Pop and Temptation by New Order.

Trainspotting feels like a movie that I could rewatch at any point without getting bored. The plot is interesting and even if some stuff is pretty fucked up (or just generally disgusting, such as a scene where Renton has to use the "worst toilet in Scotland"), it kept me interested enough to watch the full thing without going on my phone every other minute. I wouldn't recommend watching this movie openly or with other people though (especially your parents), because there are a few NSFW scenes. Not the most family friendly thing in the world.

Since I'm not a drug addict, I have no way of knowing if the portrayal of heroin use is accurate or not, but there's a funky scene with interesting visuals when Renton is having withdrawals after being locked in his room at his parent's house. For example, there's a dead baby crawling towards him on the ceiling. Unsettling!

Even if it might seem like a movie that would have a bad influence on people for glorifying drug abuse, it does have a good message that comes through at the end. CHOOSE LIFE. The monologue from the intro (click here for a video) is one of my favourite quotes now. At the very end, there's a different version of it after Renton decides to choose life instead of heroin.

But hey, that concludes my short and shitty review of the movie Trainspotting (1996).