Trainspotting

Rating:
Summary: How can we transform escape into integration
Review: This film is in a way a masterpiece that gives a vision of how young men influenced or organized by older men live in the margin of society, on the fringe of normalcy. They practice drugs as if it were some kind of hobby, not really to experience some drug-produced hallucinations but a drug-induced escape from real society, from fear, from hunger, from thirst, from their basic needs and impulses. Yet they reduce themselves to those very basic impulses and live an experience that has nothing else to propose, to offer but suffering from and amplifying those impulses. They find the morbid pleasure, at times deeply wrapped up in scatological regression, of experiencing these impulses without any limitations. This of course leads them to activities that have nothing to do with intelligence, the intellectual understanding of their alienations, but everything to do with considering society as a field for their hunting, even scavenging. But what do they hunt ? Money, adventure, the power of doing what is forbidden, the thrill of getting into supposedly unexplored feelings and intense emotions. Their life becomes a jungle where emotions and feelings are driving forces and fascinating objectives. A baby dies because of the lack of care and love that is needed for it to survive or to live, but that death becomes the center of some « pleasure », the « pleasure » of suffering in the hands of death. One will thus die in this search by getting used to starving and finally passing away because this experiment has no other exit. One will be forced by his parents to go cold turkey and establish a distance between himself and that morbidity. Another will be sent to prison and forced to cut off from those extreme habits. And strangely enough it is those two who will manage to get some profit out of it, hence the means to cut off the umbilical cord that attaches them to this alienation. This epiphany will be reached through betrayal but it is seen by the two as some kind of a new beginning, as a door leading to another life, the life they have been longing for for so long, the life of normal people blending in the social mass around them, even if they have to escape to some other niche where their strange past can be unknown and forgotten. This is the dilemma of so many young people who want to experience adventure and a wilderness that does not exist naturally in our societies. They create with their own hands a wilderness in which they can experience the fear and dangers of a jungle that is more a creation of their own than real. And yet we have to come to the conclusion that our societies do enable such young people to find and build this jungle. Maybe this jungle is part of our societies, even if it is mostly invisible.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Perpignan

Rating:
Summary: True To Life Depiction of Heroin Use
Review: I saw this movie in the theatre when it first came out. I was an active heroin user at the time, but also found the movie extremely good (what I could remember of it). Of course when I did see it, I was also under the influence of the drug, so i wasn't constantly conscience through parts of it. For the past 3 years i have been in recovery, and could NOT bring myself to watch it,(although I did want to see it again) on account that I feared bringing heroin back into my thoughts, and perhaps thinking of only the "good things" it did for me. But anyway, I did decide to rent it just recently, because my wife, who is also in recovery, wanted to see it for the first time. The experience I got from it this time was not of glamour, but of the absolute, gut-wretching, not wanting to go on anymore, just wanting to end the pain and die attitude, and the dead-end street in had brought to my life. This movie is truly a wake-up call, and a remember when for me. Something I would NOT ever want to go back to, but also something I want to keep up front to remember what it really did do to my life and the depths it brought me down to. The junkie-life in Scotland, is the same there, as it is here or anywhere else in the world for that matter. The movie doesn't flinch from depicting the horrid consequences of heroin use, but it never lets you forget that most people do it because it feels better than anything else. It's surrealistic and speedy, in a rock video kind of way. It approachs the dead-end scene of heroin use.The movie is NOT for everyone. And as I read from one reviewer, probably not for most. But if you are interested about what this crap does to ones life, or have a friend or family member hooked on it, it's a good movie depicting what these people go through on a day to day basis. Highly Recommended

Rating:
Summary: good movie...
Review: i can honestly say that this is one of my favorite movies. i haven't reviewed a movie before, so don't expect a really in depth article and whatnot, but i highly reccomend this flick. it's tone varies from being upbeat and humorous, to somewhat depressing, and really bizarre, but it stays very entertaining the whole way through. its got a great set of characters, and their constant randomness keeps the movie interesting through what isn't exactly a specific plot. the directing, the constant inner monologue, and the scottish dialect make it just a fun movie to see, and i watch it pretty much whenever i can. i'd also suggest disregarding other reviews that give it one star because of the phoniness of the baby on the ceiling... in the long run that really doesn't make a difference... so if you get the chance, i would see this movie whenever you could, i dont think youll regret it.

Rating:
Summary: Exceptional
Review: Maybe I'm just some egotistical hothead who thinks that only his oppinion matters but it seems like most people are missing the big picture with Trainspotting. Sure its got heroin in it. Yes heroin destroys lives. But Trainspotting is the flipside to Arfonosky's powerful yet bleak Requiem For A Dream. Where there once was darkness there is now light. Trainspotting is movie about moving on, making changes for the better and never looking back. Heroin, like in real life, is just an inhibitor.

The movie culls lots of elements into the movie. One minute you're laughing at the antics of Sick Boy and Renton as they're shooting people in the park with air-rifle, the next your cringing as Renton shudders painfully from his lapses of heroin. Its obvious that Trainspotting wants to try and do so much, and in its 90 minute ride, it manages to pull off everything it aims for with high sucess. Its funny, powerful, uplifting and for me inspiring. Not only that, but it's also got a kick [rear] soundtrack. Every part of the movie just screams character and gives it an even more compelling edge with the help of exciting pacing and orignal direcion(well for its time. Sadly MTV directors have managed to deteriate what was left of an effective direction style). Its an exceptional movie and recommend it to anyone who feels like their stuck in rut. It may just be the boost you need.

Rating:
Summary: The Baby
Review: It was...uh, different. The effects were bad on the baby on the ceiling scence, but what are you going to do about it? Ewan did play his role well but I must say his charactor was the most not the most likable. I suggest you skip this one..and maybe the 2nd on the is soon to be filmed.

Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT FILM! VERY REALISTIC TALES OF HEROIN USERS
Review: THIS IS ABSOLUTLEY ONE OF THE BEST FILM EVER MADE,5 BIG STARS!

Rating:
Summary: Hard to Watch at times, but Worth It!
Review: A fantastic movie. A moving, funny, horrible, sad, weird picture.

Drugs, this is a movie about drugs and thugs. Heroin is the main focus. Heroin and how it destroys junkies. Slowly. Painfully. It ain't pretty. It's also about Renton, who is just smart/lucky enough and good or is it bad enough to kick the habit and get himself away to freedom, or is it another addiction, this time to middle-class materialism? I don't know. There's a lot going on.

It's the kind of movie that makes you laugh, cringe and grip your seat. You might even have to turn away at times. For God's sake don't watch it with a first date or your parents! There's poop and puking and the "f word" is rampant. There's violence and death and disease.

Sidenote: There are two Hamish MacBeth cast members in this movie, a shockingly great performance by Robert Carlyle, who plays Hamish MacBeth. (You may also remeber him from the Full Monty) You might be able to catch it on BBC America. Spud's girlfriend in the movie up played Hamish MacBeth's girlfriend in the series.

Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: That's all I could mutter after seeing this movie. I had to own it. Ewan is amazing as Renton, the heroin addict, trying to break free of drugs and everything that sent him on a vividly portrayed downward and then upward spiral.
Funny, disgusting, disturbing, sad, realisitc, this movie is all of those things. I only had trouble dealing with the baby scene, but I can handle everything else. (Nothing at all gruesome or violent happens.)
This movie is just a very down and dirty look at human behavior, and is filled with bodily functions, vividly and imaginitively and sometimes even humorously--but you can't quite watch, scenes.
There are graphic heroin injection scenes, I think a singular sex scene and there seemed to be lots of poop, or the poop in the movie made such a lasting impression, it just seemed to be everywhere, but I don't think it was. Maybe only in two scenes.
This is not Ewan Star Wars guy. This is Ewan, fab actor guy. Not for weak stomachs or lightweights.

Rating:
Summary: Trainspotting
Review: I have seen this movie four or five times and notice something new each time(i.e. the Hibernian poster in his room.) Definitely a heavy, anguish laden story but very well crafted. Not the movie to watch if you are in the mood for light comedy. The vignette ending with Mark Renton's voiceover narration is magnificent and ingenius.

Rating:
Summary: Drowning in the mainstream...
Review: Not my cup of tea, but being open-minded I can find it a good movie if your looking for a documentary on the unrepentant evils of heroin junkies. I would recommend it to addicts to watch, perhaps they would then realize how they are wasting away. For entertainment purposes, I found it truthful yet dreary, disturbing, violent and pretty boring. Basically that is all it is about is a junkie trying to go straight in the ghettos of Scotland. Not too much more content then that. I am certainly not going to say I liked it just because the mainstream said it is brilliant or something. I couldn't wait for this movie just to be over!