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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Trainspotting (spoilers)

20:33 / 10.06.04

Seeing as no one had started a thread on it before, I figure I'd discuss the film Trainspotting. Yeah, I know it's eight years old, but I just saw it for the first time last week and I loved it, so let's discuss.

What was you favorite scene? Mine was when he sunk down into the carpet, and as he was being dragged to the hospital and everything, you could still see the sides of carpeting from his POV.

Has anyone read the book? Was it worse, as good, or better than the movie? I've heard it's great, but that the dialouge makes it a pain to read. I know for the movie, it took me about half an hour to get used to the accents and understand what the hell anyone was saying.

Well, come on now, I'm sure the rest of you have something to say.

21:11 / 10.06.04

I had a great time reading the book, once I got used to how the accent was written out. I felt a bit like a little kid sounding it all out at first in my head. Also I have a bad habit of picking up speech patterns from books, so I probably sounded pretty silly and artificially Scottish for a while after I finished it. Reader beware.

One of my literature teachers' opinion about the film was that it was a very punked-out way of getting across a pretty conservative anti-drug message. He pointed out that of all of the main characters, it's only the fresh-faced sporting guy who dies, and that's after he gets horribly hooked after trying drugs for the first time because it's something his friends do.

I really liked the scene with the air rifle and the dog in the park. Actually, any scene with Sick Boy going on about Sean Connery made me crack into giggles.

23:56 / 10.06.04

I've heard it's great, but that the dialouge makes it a pain to read.

Not any more than, say, A Clockwork Orange. Less so, actually, as you don't have to reshape your brain into undersanding an entirely new dialect.

01:03 / 11.06.04

I've heard it's great, but that the dialouge makes it a pain to read. I know for the movie, it took me about half an hour to get used to the accents and understand what the hell anyone was saying.

You think it's bad to read then you should try living here all your life. After 25 years even I can't completely understand all the dialects in my city.

Trainspotting was a good film. I loved the bit where Renton rants about Scotland-

"I hate being Scottish. We're the lowest of the fucking low, the scum of the earth, the most wretched, servile, miserable, pathetic trash that was ever shat into civilization. Some people hate the English, but I don't. They're just wankers. We, on the other hand, are colonized by wankers. We can't even pick a decent culture to be colonized by. We are ruled by effete arseholes. It's a shite state of affairs and all the fresh air in the world will not make any fucking difference."

Classic dialogue delivered perfectly by the lovable Mr. MacGregor.

I read some of the book and enjoyed it, it's very different to the film though.

02:50 / 11.06.04

Just picked up the DVD today, haven't watched it yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing if there's anything notably different about the international cut.

I really liked the film, but I think it loses some of its energy in the second half, when Renton and co. go on the drug-selling caper. Still, it's full of interesting visual techniques, and keeps a nice balance between showing off the glamour of heroin usage, and the reality of what it can do to people.

The best bit? Renton's closing voiceover as Born Slippy plays, perfect choice of music, and a really great closing sentiment.

06:55 / 11.06.04

I think the book and the film adaptation are really best treated as separate beasts. Normally, I'd say/write: The book was better - but, I really, really, dig the film.
It's weird, though, that the movie, as great as it was, had very little of what made the book great for me. No bum/father/trainspotting bit, no sex/loss/hiding bit, and no ridiculous Van Damme video dilemma... but both have that over-and-above love of Iggy suffused in their every particle.
And, yeah, for all the shit it got about 'glorifying drugs' and crime and such, I saw it with a group of friends, and they all sort of steered themselves away from heavy chemicals and petty theft for a bit.
Least favorite (but still damned powerful and well-done) bit: dead baby upside down on the ceiling. I may laugh through 'The Excorcist' but damned if that baby crawling, head moving all wrongways round, doesn't do me in, every time.

23:22 / 13.06.04

"Also I have a bad habit of picking up speech patterns from books, so I probably sounded pretty silly and artificially Scottish for a while after I finished it."
The same happened to me after watching the film. Fortunetly though, it wasn't as bad as when I watched nothing but Monty Python and The Office (a really fucking hillarious british show that I strongly recomend you run out/stay in and rent/buy/download/watch right now) for two days... my British accent lasted for a week! (I'm American, for those who'd like to know)

"I really liked the film, but I think it loses some of its energy in the second half, when Renton and co. go on the drug-selling caper."
Agreed. At the end of it all, I felt a little disapointed. For such a powerful movie, it should have left me thinking, "holy shit!" not "wow! that first hour and a half was fucking incredible!"

The ending I didn't care so much for, even if it did tie the whole thing up by returning to the openening. The opening was fucking incredible though. I have that quote on my aim profile: "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 leisurewear and matching fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit crushing game shows, stuffing junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourself. Choose a future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?" Fucking brilliant!

"I think the book and the film adaptation are really best treated as separate beasts."
That's cool. That makes me want to read the book even more. It's not as fun reading a book when you've already seen the film and just about everything is exactly the same.