Movie review: Trainspotting

Type :

Presentation

Pages :

4 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

05/07/2009

Category :

Arts & media

Sub category :

Film studies

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Summary :

Introduction
Danny Boyle
Cinema, television, and hollywood
Heroin is shown as a marginalized solution
Depression, boredom
Conclusion
Bibliography

Abstract

Many films deal with drugs. Among those, there are - Scarface, The Godfather, Revolver and so on. This theme is popular in Anglo-Saxon cinema. trainspotting directed by Danny Boyle is a film which deals with drugs in a blunt way. A group of friends, in the nineties, in Edinburgh, are only interested in sex and drugs above all. At some point, one of them - Renton, the main character (voice-over commentary) - tries to get out of it. Indeed, as the film unfolds, they do away with themselves, but eventually, Renton chooses life, leaving his friends because they have become too intrusive. We will see that trainspotting reflects and refers to English society (and government) of that period.

Originally, trainspotting is an autobiographical novel written by Irvine Welsh, in 1993. Indeed, Renton is like Irvine Welsh, when he was younger, Irvine was a drug-addict (ecstasy, which wrote about it in a novel called Ecstasy in 1996) an alcoholic, and spent his time between Edinburgh and London (like Renton who works in London, or goes to London with his friends to sell drugs). Moreover, at some point, Welsh worked as an estate agent (like Renton). So, we can say that Renton is Welsh's fictional counterpart. He flees his despair and drug addiction, in England, in the United States, and he ends up stopping drugs. In addition, Welsh plays the part of a dealer whose name is Mikey in the film. This novel was adapted, first, for theatre, in England (1994), in which we find Ewen Bremner (who plays the part of "Spud" in the film), and in France (1996). Then, it was put on screen by Danny Boyle in 1995. trainspotting was a popular film, it's the second most successful film in Great Britain after Four Weddings and a Funeral. It received many rewards, among which The British Award granted to John Hodge for the screenplay.