(28 Days Later, The Beach, A Life Less Ordinary, Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise, TV: Inspector Morse, Mr Wroe's Virgins)
Producer:
Andrew MacDonald
Screenplay:
John Hodge (based on a novel by Irvine Welsh)
Music:
Various artists including Iggy Pop, Heaven 17, Underworld,
Pulp, Damon Albarn, Lou Reed, Elastica and Sleeper.
Cast:
Renton: Ewan McGregor
Spud: Ewan Bremner
Sick Boy: Jonny Lee Miller
Tommy: Kevin McKidd
Begbie: Robert Carlyle
Diane: Kelly MacDonald
Mickey: Irvine Welsh
Drug Buyer: Keith Allen
Swanney: Peter Mullan
Himself: Dale Winton
Trainspotting on DVD
Choose
life, choose
a job, choose a career, choose a family, choose a fucking big television,
choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin
openers, choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance, choose
fixed interest mortgage repayments, choose a starter home, choose your
friends, choose leisure wear and matching luggage, choose a three-piece
suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics, choose DIY and wondering
who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning, choose sitting on that couch
watching mind-numbing spirit-crushing gameshows stuffing fucking junk food
into your mouth, choose rotting away at the end of it all pissing your
last in a miserable home nothing more than an embarassment to the selfish
fucked-up brats that you've spawned to replace yourselves, choose your
future, choose life, but why would I want to do a thing like that?
I chose not to choose life, I chose something else, and the reasons?
There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?
Trainspotting
tells the tale of Renton, a man with a chronic heroin addiction,
who is trying to kick the habit. Not easy as you might imagine, but inventive
visuals from the director make his journey almost as real for the viewer
as it is for his character, played superbly by Ewan McGregor.
Also thrown into the mix is Diane (Kelly McDonald, most recently
seen in BBC1's State of Play), Renton's new girlfriend, who has
one major surprise for him; Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller, who aims to kick the habit at the
same time as Renton - not for any particular reason, other than to completely
piss Renton off as to how easily it can be done; Spud (Ewen Bremner), Renton's best friend,
who isn't very good in job interviews, and even worse at trying to keep
his bedsheets clean; Tommy (Kevin McKidd), a sex-mad drug-hater, who makes XXX videos
with his girlfriend; and last, but not least, Begbie, played by the always-excellent
Robert Carlyle, whose hit comedy, The Full Monty, was
screened at my local cinema for seven months straight and was still pulling
in the crowds when the video went on sale. Begbie is a complete madman, always
getting drunk and looking for the next fight... oh, and swearing a great deal
too...
A few cameos in this film include Keith Allen, who showed up as
the temporary flatmate in Shallow Grave, and appears here as a drug
buyer;
My Name is Joe's
Peter Mullan as drug dealer Swanney and Dale Winton playing
himself as a game-show host.
On all previous DVD and VHS releases, the film was cut for nine seconds of
drug abuse, for viewing the actual needle piercing the skin while
injecting, the same thing that
Pulp Fiction
suffered when released on UK video, laserdisc and DVD. Trainspotting: The
Definitive Edition is, thankfully, totally uncut. However, when it was
originally released on DVD,
an uncut version accidentally escaped into the open for
a while before being recalled and I got one of those :)
Of course, the extras were very thin on the ground by comparison to this 2-disc
release.
A word about the film first, though. If you never saw it on any previous
release then you must see it now. If you enjoyed it before then you'll still
do so now. It really is a fantastic ride of entertainment and makes you wonder
how director Danny Boyle could come up with the steaming pile of
emptyness that was
28 Days Later.
On a side note, the original American release of this film had the first
twenty minutes dubbed into American accents (!), and some sex scenes removed.
When the MPAA (the USA equivalent of the BBFC) asked director Danny Boyle
what Diane was doing to Renton while on top and reaching down with her
hand between his legs... he said "Tickling his balls". The MPAA were not
amused, and instructed him to cut the scene.
The picture is framed at the original intended ratio of 1.77:1, so will fit
exactly into the frame of a widescreen television. The image is also anamorphic
and looks fantastic throughout with nothing to complain about.
The sound quality is superb. While it has a number of relatively quiet scenes
of plain dialogue, it really comes into its own when
blasting out classic tracks such as : Iggy Pop - Lust For Life; Heaven
17 - Temptation; Underworld - Born Slippy and Sleeper - Atomic,
a cover version I didn't expect.
After watching this film, every time I hear the latter on the radio, it brings
me back to the moment where Renton's sexual appetite returns and he cops off
(and more) with then-newcomer Kelly MacDonald.
Both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 soundtracks are included here, but while
I always go for the later it won't make a massive amount of difference in this
film if you don't have DTS.
The extras are as follows:
The Beginning (9½ mins):
A brief bit of chat from the principal cast and crew members, all recorded at
the time of filming, it offers an insight into how the film came to being.
Nothing too revolutionary but certainly worth a look. Shot in 4:3.
Deleted Scenes (9½ mins):
9 of them, in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen. There's also a clever option to
allow you to see these placed back into the film. Press select when the
'scissor' icon appears during the film (if you have this option selected in
the menu) and you'll be taken to the deleted scene then will carry on to the
next scene afterwards. I really think these should've been left in. Peter
Mullan's first scene is a particular 'surprise'.
Retrospective (64 mins):
Split into four sections, we're treated to 'then and now' studies of both
the look and the sound of the film. Production designer Kave Quinn tells her
tale in 1995 before those higher up in the credits give their take on it.
Musically, Mr Boyle shows how the soundtrack elements fit together.
The follows interviews with Danny Boyle, producer Andrew MacDonald,
screenwriter John Hodge and novellist Irvine Welsh. Finally,
Behind the Needle shows the trouble they went to to create a fake arm
for the injection shot, only for the BBFC to order it to be cut. This last bit
runs just over six minutes but you can view it with or without Danny Boyle's
commentary depending on the angle chosen.
Strange that the footage here was clearly shot in 16:9 but is presented in
the 14:9-letterbox compromise you associate with analogue TV. Couldn't someone
find the original master for this version? And why in the 'now' segments did
they pick a cameraman who has a stupid fetish for shoving the camera up the
Danny Boyle's nose? Just point and shoot!
I'll let you discover the 'Carlton Athletic Boys' segment.
Biographies:
Danny Boyle, Andrew MacDonald, John Hodge, Ewan McGregor, Ewan Bremner,
Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle and Kelly MacDonald. Don't get
too excited - it's just a few lines of text each.
Cannes (7 mins):
Brief interviews with Martin Landau, Noel Gallagher, Damon Albarn and
Ewan McGregor and soundbites from others.
Trailers:
A teaser trailer (4:3, 1 min) and a theatrical trailer (4:3, 2 mins).
Gallery (5 mins):
A large selection of polaroids to "Atomic".
Audio commentary:
Director Danny Boyle, producer Andrew MacDonald, screenwriter John
Hodge and actor Ewan McGregor do the honours here.
The main menus loop "Atomic" with brief bits of film footage hazed out in orange
to blend in with the look of the packaging. Subtitles are in English only, but
even if you don't select those you'll still see them during a nightclub scene
but that's intentional. The film is separated by 20 chapters.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Trainspotting
tells the tale of Renton, a man with a chronic heroin addiction,
who is trying to kick the habit. Not easy as you might imagine, but inventive
visuals from the director make his journey almost as real for the viewer
as it is for his character, played superbly by Ewan McGregor.
The picture is framed at the original intended ratio of 1.77:1, so will fit
exactly into the frame of a widescreen television. The image is also anamorphic
and looks fantastic throughout with nothing to complain about.
