Trainspotting Review
by The Flying Inkpot (inkpot AT webvisions DOT com)February 24th, 1997
TRAINSPOTTING
A film review by Dominic Ow
Copyright 1997 Flying Inkpot
Directed by: Danny Boyle
Produced by: Channel Four Films (aka Film Four International) / Figment Films/ PolyGram / The Noel Gay Motion Picture Company Runtime: About 93 minutes
Cast: Ewan McGregor (Mark Renton), Ewen Bremner (Spud Murphy), Jonny Lee Miller (Sick Boy), Kevin McKidd (Tommy)
Rating: ***1/2 out of *****
Whew. This film oozes energy, the kind of breakneck, no- holds-barred, in-your-face risk-taking filmmaking that is seldom seen on screen these days. Like the marginal, motley bunch of post-apocalyptic youths director Danny Boyle tries to depict, TRAINSPOTTING veers on the edge of utter mayhem but ultimately retains its footing and control. The result: a movie that is a delightful example of how the medium is the message.
The message: a bunch of losers with loser names, Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor), Spud (Ewan Bremner), Sick Boy (Jonny Lee
Miller), Tommy (Kevin McKidd), and Begbie (Robert Carlyle). Bored, aimless
and restless, their routine consists of getting drunk at the local pub, grooving to techno or glam-rock at the local disco and getting shots up the arm at the local den and procuring cash through a variety of methods, some ingenious, others plainly dumb and desperate. Not part of the daily dose if obtained, sex is a bonus.
You can find these characters as they are, foul-mouthed, dirty, pathetic, ugly perhaps but definitely interesting, in Irvin Welsh's cult novel of the same name. What makes the film a completely different experience is how director Boyle uses every tool at his disposal to make the filmic medium synchronous with the message.
One of the first things you'll notice is how the camera seems to dart around restlessly. It'll truck into a character's pimple, just as soon as
it will dolly out to an establishing shot. Distracted and curious, it'll maintain a character's eye-level or drop right to the ground to show the doped-out-eye-view. You'll even find characters peering into the camera, their faces smeared across the wide-angle lens. This film camera is just another one of the guys.
Tiptoeing that indistinguishable line between fantasy and reality, Boyle employs a healthy dose of surrealism to get the message across. Bored kids daydream and bored kids deprived of a heroin fix have nightmares. I don't want to give too much away, but if you cross Chuckie from CHILD'S PLAY with some of the wacky fantasies in HEAVENLY CREATURES, you might have an idea just how fun or pants-wetting scary the alternate state of consciouness can be. That said, this film has a good share of drugs - consumed, vomitted, defecated, pissed off, exchanged, bought, sold, injected, smuggled, enjoyed and regretted. If that isn't your cup of tea, nobody forced you to see the film. Stay at home and rent UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL.
And what's a buzz without tunes. From Pulp to Iggy Pop (yes, he's still alive), the aural landscape is as engaging as the visual energy permeating the film. Good and bad vibrations tangle like the conflicting desires and values of the message. Every once in a while, a film comes along with the kind of energetic filmmaking that matches the intensity of its characters it hopes to depict. Trainspotting is that shooting star that burns across a sky littered with static constellations.
Dom is a part-time filmmaker who graduated from Northwestern University's Radio/TV/Film programme not too long ago. He has laboured on various music videos and short films in and around campus and Chicago. NOWHERE TOWN, a 26min short film that he shot, co-directed and co-produced recently scooped up the grand jury prize at the Charleston International Film Festival for best student production. He is currently finishing a couple of small projects. With his minute amounts of leisure time, dom does Nell impersonations.
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This movie review was written for THE FLYING INKPOT: an arts and entertainment magazine from Singapore. For reviews of the latest films, concerts, album releases, books and plays in Singapore, swing by http://webvisions.com/inkpot and click on Mildred's head.
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Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
