Trainspotting (1996)

Not a single movie has characterized the horrors of the heroin industry as well as Requiem for A Dream. But the lackluster effects of drama that dwindles over almost all of the movie, along with an eerie sense of emotional clusters of anger, hatred, sorrow, insanity, etc. makes the movie one that cannot be cherished by those who prefer comedic films, or those that have mixed emotions of laughter, love, madness, and so forth. Trainspotting differs in this aspect as the movie delves deep into the psychedelic rollercoaster of joyfulness, fiendishness, and the crashes that come from the end of the heroin ride.

The movie is set in Edinburgh, Scotland revolving around 4 major characters. Nicknamed "Rent Boy" (Ewan McGregor), "Spud" (Ewen Bremner), "Sick Boy" (Johnny Lee Miller), and "Franco" (Robert Carlyle). We follow Rent Boy as he rides along his drug addiction path and the eventual quitting of the drug. As he views his friends in the scopes of sobriety for the first time, he begins to fully understand the nightmarish horror of heroin. Rent Boy's narration covers the majority of the film, and we see him and his understanding and true thoughts of those around him. A great positive of the film is that Rent Boy's narration is emotional, the vividness that radiates from it allows you to truly engage in feeling like you can understand the character and those around him.

While dialog makes much of the film and most contributes to its greatness, I've always had a real love for the camera work. Low-angled shots, close face shots, slow panning shots, and so forth, make up only a minuscule portion of the very varied camera work. When in a scene, the camera will shift to whatever is the subject at hand, only to return to the individuals immediately after. Audio also makes a partial portion of not only the discussion amidst different characters, but the music that plays during scenes as well. In a dramatic scene involving a baby and Sick Boy, the silence between the characters makes for an emotional collage of anger and frustration and sorrowful sentences. Music in the film only seems to appear at either high-paced scenes involving different drugs, or when Rent Boy narrates over an event and the music serves to liven the scene. This works in numerous ways, the foremost being it serves to not leave a lackluster bore in the midst of the movie's action, and heightens the mood of the viewer in order to more closely relate with Rent Boy's speech. To give an example, the movie begins with a soccer game of the main characters playing against some no-names, as Rent Boy gives a speech of how people "Choose life", the music has a fast rhythm but slows down as the players stop playing and get in position for a "free-kick".

Trainspotting has a legacy of destroying the "cool" factors behind heroin use. With all its aspects, be it directing, dialog, audio, or cinematography, it succeeds at least on a minor level with all of them. It's been voted the best Scottish film of all-time by Scots, and was given the 10th spot on the "Top 100 British films of all-time".

Innovation: 7.5
Entertainment: 9.5
Audio: 8.5
Overall: 9.0

Personal Rating*: 10.0

*The personal rating differs from the others as in I don't take factors of how the film would be in the industry and audiences in the normal ratings. The PR is based solely on my overall liking of the film.