Trainspotting [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray]

Director: Danny Boyle Danny Boyle

Overview

Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor), a young man with few prospects and fewer ambitions, lives in economically depressed Edinburgh. Like most of his friends, Renton is a heroin addict who loves the drug's blissful nothingness; financing his habit also provides excitement and challenges that his life otherwise lacks. Renton's two best friends are also junkies: Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), a snappy dresser obsessed with James Bond, and Spud (Ewan Bremner), a guileless nerd who suggests Pee Wee Herman's debauched cousin. Renton and his pals also hang out with Begbie (Robert Carlyle), a borderline psychotic who loathes junkies even though he drinks like a fish. After one too many brushes with the law, Renton kicks heroin and moves to London, where he finds a job, a flat, and something close to peace of mind. However, Sick Boy, Begbie, and Spud all arrive at his doorstep on the trail of a big score, leading Renton back into drugs and crime.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/23/2021
UPC:	0032429351913
Original Release:	1996
Rating:	R
Source:	Miramax
Language:	English
Time:	1:33:00
Sales rank:	13,737

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Ewan McGregor	Mark Renton
Ewen Bremner	Spud
Jonny Lee Miller	Sick Boy
Kevin McKidd	Tommy
Robert Carlyle	Begbie
Kelly Macdonald	Diane,Flat Buyer
Peter Mullan	Swanney
James Cosmo	Mr. Renton
Eileen Nicholas	Mrs. Renton
Susan Vidler	Allison
Pauline Lynch	Lizzy
Shirley Henderson	Gail
Stuart McQuarrie	Gavin, U.S. tourist
Irvine Welsh	Mikey,Sheriff
Dale Winton	Game Show Host
Keith Allen	Dealer,Andreas
Annie Louise Ross	Gail's Mother,Man 1
Billy Riddoch	Gail's Father
Fiona Bell	Diane's Mother
Vincent Friel	Diane's Father
Victor Eadie	Man 2
Kate Donnelly	Woman
Eddie Nestor	Estate Agent
Vincent Friell	Diane's Father
Tom Delmar	Pub Heavy
John Kazek	Actor
Rachael Fleming	Renton's Nurse
Damon Albarn	Composer

Technical Credits

John Hodge

Danny Boyle	Director,Producer
John Hodge	Screenwriter
Andrew Macdonald	Producer
Terry Forrestal	Stunts
Grant Mason	Special Effects
Andy Pryor	Casting
Tony Steers	Special Effects
Gail Stevens	Casting
Martin Cantwell	Sound Effects
Ray Merrin	Sound Effects
Bernard Bellew	Producer
Tony Cook	Sound Effects
Perry Costello	Special Effects
Tom Delmar	Stunts
Ray Merrin	Sound/Sound Designer
Mark Taylor	Sound/Sound Designer
Colin Nicolson	Sound/Sound Designer
Brian Saunders	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

A film that shows what makes heroin addictive without glorifying it, Trainspotting was one of the most popular and controversial British films of the 1990s. Exploding with morbid wit, kinetic energy, and fatalistic insight, it jolted critics and audiences regardless of whether or not they actually liked it. A twisting, riff-filled, almost plot-free story, Irvine Welsh's novel was almost unfilmable in its original form. The screen adaptation successfully streamlined Welsh's ungainly material into a slick social commentary that smoothed the book's rough edges without losing its vitriol and insight. Trainspotting is not merely about drug addiction, but about the relationship between wasted youth and the spiritually bankrupt society that has alienated them. Another of the film's great strengths was its ensemble casting of Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller, and Ewen Bremner. McGregor and Carlyle, in particular, turned in star-making performances as Renton, the film's affable narrator, and Begbie, its resident psychotic drunk. Their work, and that of their co-stars, makes for such compulsively enjoyable viewing that, fittingly enough, you'll have a hard time coming down afterwards.

All Movie Guide