Film Trainspotting

[Tongue]

just curious, how many like this movie, and why??personally, ive never seen the big deal about the flick, seems like yer typical dopeflick...

all you opiod fiends out there, whatcha make of the kicking/dead baby scene??u think its realistic??

 

[hashish2020]

the book is 10000000 tinmes better

 

[axl blaze]

I think Trainspotting depicted kicking heroin to be a little overexaggerated - the movie felt like one big hyperbole.

 

[exmancs]

It's not meant to be realistic though is it, it's just a stylised work of fiction about some smackheads' lives... Like saying Human Traffic is a realistic portrayal of people taking E.

 

[chokingvictim]

I found it very funny, but I haven't seen a movie where the goal was to portray heroin users (and their attempt to kick the habit) as accurately as possible. Usually movies are more for entertainment and to make money.
And I found Trainspotting very entertaining. I still haven't read the book, but I've been telling myself for almost a year now that I'm going to get it. One of these days...

 

[alasdairm]

Originally posted by exmancs
It's not meant to be realistic though is it, it's just a stylised work of fiction...

nicely put.

i think there's always likely to be an argument when viewing a movie in light of the book from which it is adapted.

related reading: the book is always better than the movie...

while there is definitely a good deal of excellent material which didn't make it from the book to the movie, i still think that the movie is great.

alasdair

 

[kiss2remember]

My favorite part = the bathroom scene

Too funny!

 

[cravNbeets]

It's not meant to be realistic though is it, it's just a stylised work of fiction about some smackheads' lives... Like saying Human Traffic is a realistic portrayal of people taking E.

that may've been a bad example, i think human traffic is pretty accurate

i think the great thing about trainspotting (simply as a drug movie) is its ability to be frank about the ups and downs of herion while still maintaining a sense of humor. renton's detox scene is a perfect example of this. he's haunted by his fallen/falling friends and that goulish looking baby but its done in such a way that you kinda have to giggle if you're humor tends to skew towards the darker side. also it manages to get the "addiction is garbage" message across without being too preachy. even though renton "chooses life" the whole thing somehow manages to be a lot less trite than other movies about herion which just smack [pun intended] of the whole 12 stepper mindset.

whats great about trainspotting:

the acting
the dialouge
the soundtrack
full frontal nudity

maybe a better ?uestion is whats wrong with trainspotting

 

[1_2_3_4_5_against_1]

Trainspotting is great.....people read too much into the expose of drugs in it

 

[Benefit]

I should preface this briefly by saying I've never gone through heroin withdrawal or read the novel.

I really liked the movie. The acting was all-around good, the dialogue (when I could understand what they were saying) was excellent, the narrative unfolded well and the direction/scene composition/location shots were superb. I don't think it matters if it is a realistic depiction of withdrawal, it is certainly an accurate portrayal of depravity. The graphic emphasis on bodily fluids (shit, piss, blood) was very effective in establishing the kind of primitive sort of subsistence lifestyle yielded by addiction.

The direction was outstanding, employing a variety of different styles and techniques. I can't think of a single scene where light, camera placement, location, etc were not done well. The filmmakers used the architecture around Edinburgh and Glasgow expertly for the exterior shots. I particularly liked the way the train wallpaper in Renton's room was designed to look like bricks, giving the impression that he was confined in a cell.

The tone of the film struck an excellent balance between being a humorously sardonic, tongue in cheek appraisal of a bunch of deadbeats while still conveying the essential emptiness of their lives. Consider for instance the way Renton is dragged all the way to the hospital like a sack of beans; he is essentially divorced from his humanity and becomes a vessel from which money is extracted first by the dope dealer and then by the cab driver. There are numerous similar examples.

It has a great soundtrack.

Excellent film.

 

[Dtergent]

Originally posted by exmancs
It's not meant to be realistic though is it, it's just a stylised work of fiction...

nicely put.

i think there's always likely to be an argument when viewing a movie in light of the book from which it is adapted.

related reading: the book is always better than the movie...

while there is definitely a good deal of excellent material which didn't make it from the book to the movie, i still think that the movie is great.

alasdair

Actually, I liked how the film was able to provide cohesion to the stories in the book. I think the selection of scenes and stories was quite instrumental in giving the viewer a consistent point of view, and in providing a resulting strange kind of 20th century qualitative, "moral-lesson-but-not" feeling at the end of the film.

I enjoyed it much and laughed much.

 

[Julkaa]

I liked the movie because of the brilliant camera work. The film showed emotion through the way it was shown and scene's were set up to show how the person feels and what they are ging through w/o using words.

 

[wanderlust]

film: trainspotting

excellent film, all in all


*add poll

 

[PsycheViolet]

actually trainspotting is a reinactment on how bad being hooked on heroin can be.. most of the time its not that strange.. but im sure for some people it can get as bad....

helping the ignorant see.

 

[PsycheViolet]

overall i loved it!

 

[knight_marshall]

I saw this movie for the first time when I was about 16-17... soon after my brother started disclosing the true extent of his drug use (he's five years older than me)... this was after, at his age 16, my age 12, he fell off a tram and busted his head open on the road, resulting in 6 months serious trauma rehab (learning to walk again).

I think more than any other drug movie this one allowed me to understand what it truly feels like to be mentally dependant. Well, maybe not what it feels like, but the mental thought patterns one goes through, and the strange way that things can just seem to make sense, even when they quite obviously don't work out in the end.

 

[aloowishus]

the book is 10000000 tinmes better

Agreed...The follow up(Porno) is just as good.

 

[wizekrak]

I've seen the film countless times since it's release and always found it entertaining. I picked up the book the other day, the phonetic scottish writing style takes a little while to get used to but so far so good.

 

[Coose]

The film does a lot better to show the day-to-day lives and real battles of a dope fiend. Not just your average skag-flick, but nothing to write home about.

 

[cravNbeets]

I've seen the film countless times since it's release and always found it entertaining. I picked up the book the other day, the phonetic scottish writing style takes a little while to get used to but so far so good.

glossary in the back ken? i didnae ken till around page 200. i found myself so frustrated i was heard to be greetin like a bairn