Defining Favourites: Trainspotting (1996)
Danny Boyle breaks down the monotony of the life of heroin addicts in his energetic classic.
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Directed by Danny Boyle
Screenplay by John Hodge, from the novel by Irvine Welsh
Produced by Andrew Macdonald
Starring Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle, Kelly Macdonald
Running Time: 93 minutes
Premiere Date: February 21, 1996
The opening scene of Trainspotting sets the tone perfectly for what we’re about to expect: and in that moment, we’re introduced to Renton and Spud (Ewan McGregor and Ewen Bremner) running away from the police. But in this opening scene also begins Renton’s famous “Choose life” monologue, which breaks down the constant moralizing of lessons that had been spoon-fed to the minds of the Scottish population since their youth, all while set to Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life.” From this opening scene alone, it’s also where Danny Boyle tells you about the sort of film that Trainspotting is, before we get deeply rooted into what the film is actually about.
Renton introduces us to what really goes on in his life soon enough after this scene, in which we see him trying to live a clean life free of the drugs that had set himself for a reckless downward spiral. And of course, his life is not all that much different from what we might see around ourselves – with the intention of removing the stigmas that are placed upon drug addicts. Of course, Trainspotting is a movie all about heroin addiction, but perhaps the most distinguishing elements of Danny Boyle’s observations about the lives of heroin addicts comes into full picture when one looks into the circumstances that have motivated them to start taking such heavy drugs in the first place.
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