5. Film Reviews

International Movie Review: Trainspotting

Author’s Note

When I get asked the question “What is the most famous movie that you haven’t watched?” I become paralysed with a shameful fear of having to answer honestly. Usually, I’ll try to say either an incredibly old movie like “Citizen Kane” or something that isn’t a very accessible genre like “Remember the Titans”, something that wouldn’t lead to a follow-up question or a repeat of the same one. However, the truth to that question could be answered in hundreds of ways that I’m not at all proud of.

To list a few:

• Shawshank Redemption
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• The original “Planet of the Apes”
• The “Fistful of Dollars” Trilogy
• Anything directed by Quentin Tarantino

And the one I’m most ashamed of:

• Anything directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Now if you haven’t closed this page in an uncontrollable fit of rage over the failure of the modern generation and loss of culture, I would like to continue with another one of these monumentally popular movies that have been on my (popcorn) bucket list for longer than they should have: Trainspotting.

Trainspotting, while not as popular as the other movies I have mentioned, is one of those films deemed a “cult classic”, meaning it was underappreciated and comparably unsuccessful upon its release until years after when fans of the original use word of mouth to spread the good word about it, amassing a legion of dedicated fans who propel the movie into stardom.

While Trainspotting was on my list of movies I needed to watch, I had initially written it off as simply another “Stoner Comedy” except this time in Scotland instead of America.

That’s where the review constraints came into play.

I’m aware that when I was asked to review a “non-Hollywood” film, it was intended for me to simply watch something that isn’t your usual summer blockbuster or just, in general, a highly popular or critically acclaimed movie like your usual Oscar winner – something which Trainspotting might be walking the thin red line on. I do want to stress, however, that this is genuinely a movie I would never have gotten around to watching until probably sometime in my college years or beyond. I already watch many non-Hollywood movies in my spare time though, my favourites being Studio Ghibli movies.

Now enough about me; It’s time to get on with talking about Trainspotting.

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Title of Film: Trainspotting

Directed By: Danny Boyle

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Year of Release: 1996

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

Trainspotting, based on the novel written by Irvine Welsh, tells the hilarious yet all-too-tragic tale of Mark Renton (a young heroin addict), his four lifelong “friends” Spud, Sick Boy, Begbie and Tommy, and the ensuing accelerated entropy of both their friendship and individual lives kickstarted by the ripple effect of Renton wanting to escape from his unhealthy lifestyle, past choices, and his hindering “friendship” with the aforementioned gang of trouble-harbouring youths.

Throughout the film, the primary theme seems to be that of escapism, or lack thereof.

Scotland, or the world in general, is seen by Renton and his friends as a type of purgatory where everyone does the same thing and makes the same choices until their inevitable demise, something which is established early on by the opening monologue;

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 luggage. Choose a three-piece suit on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, 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 embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you 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 somethin’ else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you’ve got heroin?

Renton and his friends chose heroin in attempt to circumvent the standard cycle of life for the usual citizen. If you notice during the opening monologue, towards the end he mentions “watching mind-numbing, spirit crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth”, which is clearly referring to his own experience with his parents, who are seen in about two scenes sat eating dinner in front of the television watching a quiz show.

This is clearly where he conceived the idea that if he doesn’t do something outside of the norms of society, he’ll end up with the same fate as his parents – an idea most likely formed in his “rebellious stage.” However, something interesting is that throughout the film he finds himself regretting his decisions in life up to this point, wishing that he had simply stayed on the same well-trodden path that the majority of other people have taken and that while that would be boring, it would ultimately be a happier and less mentally taxing life than his current status as a drug addict with no motives in life other than to accumulate enough money to pay for his next dosage of heroin.

In fact, my theory on the title “Trainspotting”, while a reference to both a line in the book and a commonly used term referring to heroin addicts and the dark marks that materialise on their veins known in slang as “trains”, I believe could also be a metaphor about how Renton has been watching opportunities to improve his life and escape from his lifestyle as an addict pass by him, with trains, a mode of transport, being an allegory for these opportunities being a way for him to leave his current predicament.

This scene in particular from the trailer, I find to be quite apt at illustrating the underlying plot and general theme of the film. Can’t get away, can’t stay for much longer.

The genre of the film is a dark comedic drama. This draws from the film primarily being about the interactions with Renton and his group of friends and their many struggles in life, while having many comedic moments splashed throughout the incredibly grounded reality the characters live in. The film has many aspects in common with that of a “coming of age” movie, that would normally be about teenagers who are in desperate need of a reality check, though in this case is about young adult men who are struggling to live in the world they have chosen for themselves.

The narrative structure of the film follows that of a standard film. The setting is established, the main characters are introduced and the motives of the protagonist is explained. The protagonist’s motives cause problems in the lives of the other main characters. Problematic events continue to escalate until a point where they each hit their lowest point and action must be taken. The characters gradually recover from this and an opportunity to improve their lives appears, which they then take. At the climax of the film something unexpected happens and all the characters ultimately get what they deserve.

Renton is a character meant to represent a young adult who has fallen in with the wrong crowd and made the wrong decisions. He comes to realise underneath that he deeply regrets his life choices and takes action to try to turn his life around. These actions each take a toll on the lives of both his and the other characters’ lives, not that he cared much for them anyway due to them partially being the reason why he has come to this point in his life. He, much like most other protagonists, is meant to resonate with the viewer, make them empathise with him and make his actions seem like the ones the viewer would take if they were in the same situation. Something which I feel he succeeds in.

Spud is, to put it in a way to make it semi-understandable when I go on to explain it, is a Neville Longbottom. He is the character who is always very nice to the protagonist and has his life constantly being thrown in harm’s way. The viewer is supposed to sympathise with this character and wants them to get a win, which by the end of the film he is given and you are given a brief moment of happiness for seeing this character given a win.

The opening scene of the film, Renton (Left) and Spud (Right) running away from the cops after being caught shoplifting.

Sick Boy is the character who is initially supposed to be seen as reasonable and caring, yet by the end of the film leaves the viewer to make up their own opinions on due to his actions up to this point. He is also used as an outlet for the director and writer’s opinions, being given the trait of being a film buff who loves nothing more than to talk about James Bond films and actors and explain a very basic yet true “unifying theory of life”…

Well, at one time, you’ve got it, and then you lose it, and it’s gone forever. All walks of life: George Best, for example. Had it, lost it. Or David Bowie, or Lou Reed…

Tommy is the character whose life you watch continue down a spiral of depression and throughout a series of unfortunate events. You see him being taken advantage of by his thought-to-be friends when Renton steals his video tape and when his girlfriend breaks up with him, none of the characters fess up to it, instead choosing self-preservation over honesty. The protagonist learns a lesson from this character that carries on into the climax of the film when the protagonist makes a life changing decision based on an exchange they had with this character.

Begbie, if the role had not already been filled by heroin, would be the antagonist of this film. He is the character who has never shown an act of kindness on-screen and will always be seen as a bad person. Despite this, he is deemed a “mate” by the main characters and is always supported and helped along with his decisions, although only through fear and intimidation. His spontaneous behaviour and outbursts are also meant to represent the unpredictability of our five characters’ lives due to their current situations in constantly being endangered by drugs and at risk of being arrested every day. He is just one of the many things Renton is so desperate to get away from before it kills them all.

Trainspotting has one of the best soundtracks in a film that I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. Every song is as distinct as the last. Unlike most films, where there will be a background score that was made to go along with each scene in the film, this movie, whether due to budget or artistic choice, has a new song to go with each scene in the movie. While in some cases this could be seen as intrusive and unfitting to the scenes purely because the director or producer wanted something popular in the film, the music correlates perfectly with every scene in the film and helps you understand Renton’s current feeling. One example of this is in the club scene when it first plays “Temptation” when Renton is looking around the club at all of the other couples, feeling jealous that everyone else was able to find a partner. Then when he sees Diane, alone in the middle of the club, just like he is, it plays a cover of the song “Atomic” by Blondie (Cover version by Sleeper), a song about instant attraction.

The first time Renton sees Diane, a scene without dialogue where the music and visuals tell you the story and the character’s thoughts, rather than through dialogue like some other moments in the film.

There is an exception to this rule for two scenes, however, though not by mistake or laziness.

In a scene where Renton is seen being brought into hospital while experiencing an overdose, the song “Perfect Day” by Lou Reed is played in contrast to the character being at death’s door. This helps show how even though something awful is happening, the fact Renton is on heroin makes him completely oblivious to the fact he is dying, still experiencing a high from the drug. The concept of dying while being oblivious yet happy is a concept which while sounds good to some people is horrifying to others and the fact the director chose to add this song instead of a more tense or scary choice of music may have been more effective than if he had.

The second example is in the movies most gut wrenching, harrowing scene when the group discovers the dead baby. Instead of playing a sad song, or even a happy one to achieve a contrapuntal effect like the last scene, the director chose to have no music over this scene at all. You are left with complete and utter silence while you are forced to process the idea of a baby dying, the cries of the devastated mother and the looks of distraught on the other characters faces as they too experience the exact same thing the viewer is. It is a scene which leaves a mark on both the characters and the viewer, setting a darker shift in tone for the rest of the movie.

Trainspotting as a movie has a lot in common with many other films of a similar budget in that it makes up for lack of large scope and special effects with extremely interesting camerawork and editing. When the characters take heroin, the scene is shot from a low height to show that they have hit a low point in their lives. It also visualizes how many people describe heroin as being in a different, more laid-back state of mind where you are no longer in the place you once were and feel like you have fallen into another plane of existence.

Low shot during drug use

Another example is in the scene where Renton is in his bed going cold turkey. There are many extreme close up shots to make the viewer feel uncomfortable, just like how Renton is feeling at that very moment while the heroin is being washed out of his system.

Close-up shot (leads into extreme close-up shots)

As for editing, Trainspotting makes use of a lot of interesting cuts throughout the film for both transitions and to achieve a certain effect in different parts of the film. A few minor ones include a football being kicked towards the camera being used to smash cut into a phone being put back on the wall and clips of a football game being intercut with a sex scene, along with the audio from the football match shouting “-AND HE’S SCORED” as the coitus comes to a close. [Author’s Note: The only time where I haven’t been proud of using alliteration. I feel genuinely disgusted with myself right now.]

One of my favourite examples is when Spud is having an interview while on amphetamine. To show how Spud is feeling extremely hyperactive and his mind currently racing, the editing style choose to be purposefully jumpy and cuts frequently to other shots, to make the viewer feel disoriented, just like Spud. It then pauses on a wide shot of the table of interviewers, showing what reality is supposed to feel like. Then when it goes back to Spud, the snappy editing continues, showing a nice contrast between the two current states of mind between Spud and the table of interviewers.

Interview scene. Spud’s camera shot switches positions almost every 2 seconds

Trainspotting uses a lot of its scenery and location to its advantage when telling a story through visuals instead of the characters speaking, as well as using it to achieve interesting effects in some scenes. For example, most of the movie is set in a very grungy, low-income town in Scotland. Everything appears very dark, being shot on cloudy days and in purposefully dark areas. However, when the movie moves to London, you notice an immediate shift in tone with seeing sunlight and bright areas, clean buildings and streets.

Scotland (Left) and England (Right)

An example of the scenery and being well used is how the director uses two colours in particular to represent two important factors of the film: Red and green. Red, known as the colour for blood and evil, is used in scenes to show danger. An example is in Mother Superior’s drug den, the carpet and walls are red, showing that the area is dangerous because of the heroine. Diane’s dress is also red, showing that Renton is stepping into danger when he goes to confront her, ultimately leading to him being blackmailed by her. Also in the scene when Renton is having an overdose and he sinks into the red carpet, two pieces of red fabric are stuck to either side of the camera to show that he is a foot in the grave and not out of danger yet, until he gets a shot of adrenaline to wake him up and the two pieces of carpet are removed, showing there is no longer danger.

Red carpet represents the danger Renton is in

Green, used as the universal colour for health and goodness, is used to represent drug free areas and healing. For example, in the scene at the beginning of the movie first shows the baby in the drug den, the baby is seen in a painted green hallway, outside of the red room of where the drugs are. Another example is in the scene where Renton is going cold turkey, his bed, covers, and pillow are both green, along with him being given a bowl of pea soup by his parents.

The baby is initially kept outside of the red drug den out in the safety of the green hallway

Trainspotting would probably have been aimed towards an audience who were the same age as the characters during the ‘80s, which is when the movie is set. The choices of music and cultural references were probably meant to appeal to that kind of audience as a way of making them feel nostalgic and reminisce back to those days while watching the film to make them feel a bit more immersed in the film.

However, I believe that the lessons it teaches about living in a boring life not being as bad as living a dangerous and unpredictable life, while also teaching you to be more aware of how much of cycle you are living in so as not to go insane from the monotony, is a lesson that should be taught to everyone of all ages, especially in our modern era. Today, where everybody is on social media, reading about the same things, talking about the same things and feeling pressured to feel the same way about everything, a little reality check does good for everyone involved.

I wholeheartedly recommend giving this movie a watch. No matter what type of person you are, no matter where you live and no matter what age you are (within reason of course. It is an 18), if you are human, you will gain something from this movie. What you will gain, however, will depend entirely on what you take away from this movie. What I took away from this movie is not to judge a movie based on its topic and definitely not to wait so long to watch critically acclaimed movies.

Choose life. Choose to watch this movie. And I’m choosing to give this movie a solid 8.5/10.

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Short Film Review:
Blade Runner: Black Out 2022

Author’s Note

After almost two weeks of sifting through dozens upon dozens of short films on YouTube, I finally found one with the right amount of substance and subtlety to satiate the requirements to write my review. What makes this short film different from any of the other multi-dozen short films I watched was that this film actually had a sense of subtlety and had nuances, as opposed to having incredibly ham-fisted messages and almost every cliche in the book, which physically hurt me internally from cringing so hard. My assumption behind why this was is because all the short films I watched were being given the spotlight for effort rather than actual quality, which while is still very good for them, isn’t exactly the right kind of material for a review. Unfortunately, while I was able to find something to review, just like the Trainspotting review I feel like I may have chosen something a little too “mainstream,” which ultimately defeats the purpose of this exercise in a way.

Anyway, enough about the bad ones. Let’s get on to something far better…

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Title of Film: Blade Runner: Black Out 2022

Directed By: Shinichirô Watanabe

Country of Origin: United States

Year of Release: 2017

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

“Blade Runner: Black Out 2022” is a short film that was made to promote the new film “Blade Runner 2049”, a sequel to the ’80s cult classic, “Blade Runner”, which is also the film adaptation of “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep”, a novel by Philip K. Dick. What you could probably already tell from the title is that the film is set in the same universe as the two films and 27 years before 2049, but it is important to note if you haven’t seen the first Blade Runner, is that the original takes place in 2019, so this movie was made to fill in the events that have happened up this point in the movie, as well as how it affects the world of Blade Runner moving on from this point.

The film takes place after the events of the original Blade Runner, which was about a futuristic version of Earth shaped by the use and manufacturing of synthetic humanoids known as “replicants” by the Tyrell Corporation, which are used for slave labour due to them being given enhanced physical attributes that make them perfect for manual labour and not needing to be payed as they are seen as simply products and sub-human. In the film, a group of four replicants escape from their off-world duties and return to earth seeking a way to expand their diminished lifespan. Since replicants are far better than humans in pretty much every aspect save for intelligence, in which they are seen as equal and also appear completely human in every way, specially trained agents known as “Blade Runners” are given the task of tracking down and “retiring” any renegade replicants before they cause any harm or damage.

In Black Out 2022, the Tyrell corporation have created a new line of replicants with normal human lifespans. This of course angers many “human supremacists”, who fear now that replicants are being given equal lifespans that they could replace humanity as the dominant species in the universe. In response to the production of these new long-lasting replicants, the human supremacists use the Tyrell Corporation database to hunt down and kill any of the new line of replicants in protest.

Human supremacists standing over the camera menacingly.

This has been going on for a bit over a year until an underground replicant militia force made up of newer models, mostly made for military purpose, band together and form a plan to erase any and all record of replicant production, giving them the chance to live normal lives without fear of being hunted down by humans. This operation is spearheaded by a soldier unit known as Iggy, who works alongside a pleasure model called Trixie to destroy the worlds entire digital network, bringing humanity back to the stone age in terms of information and ensuring the survival of replicants beyond slavery.

The film, as well as the Blade Runner franchise as a whole, explores the many forms of  humanism and all its quirky nuances. Two of the main questions the film asks you to think about are “What defines a human?” and “Should something that was created to be exactly like a human be considered, treated like, and given the same rights as a human?”, as these are the main aspects of humanism. On top of that, replicants and the way humans have subjugated them is analogous to ethnic slavery and the racial divide in general, putting the situation in a way that is less of a hot button topic and much more philosophical, making people take more time to think about it as opposed to something which is an extremely obvious and incredibly outdated concept.

The film is an animated Sci-Fi Action movie, due to the books the universe is based on also being the same genres. As such, the film gives us plenty of science fiction aesthetics, showing off a glimpse of how people in the 1980’s thought the 2020’s was going to look like. The world in the film looks highly industrial, due to the fears of humanity completely turning Earth into a power plant to supply its ever-growing need for machines and technology, as well as the fear of over population causing us to have to compartmentalise housing and living space to actually be able to fit in all of the people it produces each day. When looking at the film, you will see apartment buildings that reach the height of skyscrapers and absolutely zero solar panels, since back in the ’80s alternative energy was certainly not as big a priority as it is today.

The film itself has a little more of a shakeup in its narrative structure, as it jumps about during certain points of the story to fill in the larger picture to the audience without dragging them through countless scenes and turning what could have easily been a thirty minute film into a fifteen minute movie.

Beginning of the film. Iggy walking through a field of fire.

So it starts off with a vague glimpse of a scene from the tail end of the film, only to move onto a scene that happened months before the film takes place, then to the beginning of the story for a while, then as the two main characters talk about their plan and travel to their destination, it shows a flashback to them preparing things for their plot, then back to them, then to a scene showing another character doing his part in their plan, then it cuts back and forth between his scenes and the main characters’ scenes until it comes to a climax, showing the scene from the beginning of the film and then moving on to a quick epilogue.

Due to it being a short film, there are only three characters I can talk about and even then it is made a bit more difficult to find something to write about because of the short length of the film, although there is still a lot of character development that happens throughout the film.

Iggy is the main protagonist, being the one who the story begins and ends on, as well as going the most in-depth into his backstory. He has had a rough life due to him being a slave in the military and being sent out to die fighting a war for no reason other than he was ordered to and killing members of his own species like “toy soldiers in a sandbox”. This is when he first realised how cruelly humanity treated replicants and when he realised he wanted to stop this from continuing any further. He is shown to be quite apathetic, due to him being both war-hardened and scorned by humans.

Trixie looking concerned towards Iggy and whether what they’re doing is right.

Trixie is the side protagonist, being the only person in the film whom the main character converses with and also has a large hand in the plot. She, much like Iggy, has had a tough life, being a pleasure model who is prostituted without any payment or benefits and is very often abused by her “customers”. When we are first introduced to her, it is actually after an implied sexual assault, further proving how terribly humans will treat replicants just because they’re not human and also giving her motive behind what actions she takes in the film. She is shown to be quite empathetic with humans, showing displeasure when having to take the life of a human and when having to tell lies to Ren in order for him to carry out the plan.

Ren is the only main character who is human, as well as the only human character in the film who empathises with the replicants, stating that replicants are “more human than human” due to humans being lying and deceitful, always trying to betray each other for personal gains. This is made quite depressing, however, when it is heavily implied that Trixie was put up to forming a relationship with him purely for the reasons of destroying the replicant database, not seeing that replicants are just as human as humans are when it comes to lies and deceit.

The sound effects and musical choices in Blade Runner are made to replicate (couldn’t escape that pun) the feel of the original, meaning plenty of synths and dream-like stings throughout, as well as plenty of industrial sound effects to make clear the dystopian future that humanity has brought upon itself with its greed. On top of sound, the appearance of the film is especially similar to the original, sometimes to the point of recreating exact locations of the film and even some of the shots from the original. Everything is made to look exactly like how the original film did: dark, dirty, mechanical and incredibly cyber-punkish.

Scene of the dense 2022 skyline filled with flying cars and blue lit apartment housing.

Blade Runner: Black Out 2022 is made for people who are either fans of the original or people who are looking forward to/have seen the new film – preferably both. Despite this, I think that this short film could be highly enjoyed without having any prior knowledge of the franchise, albeit not to the fullest extent due to some of the recreations of scenes from the original, as well as not having the clearest idea of the concept of a replicant.

I would easily give this short film a solid 8/10, purely because of its ability to tell a story in a far more interesting way than the countless films I had to watch leading up to it, as well as the strong philosophical questions it asks the viewers throughout. Taking points off it, however, due to its heavy lean towards viewers of ether two films alienating those who aren’t.