22. Trainspotting
A wild, freeform, Rabelaisian trip through the darkest recesses of Edinburgh low-life, focusing on Mark Renton and his attempt to give up his heroin habit, and how the latter affects his relationship with family and friends: Sean Connery wannabe Sick Boy, dimbulb Spud, psycho Begbie, 14-year-old girlfriend Diane, and clean-cut athlete Tommy, who's never touched drugs but can't help being curious about them...This is a good film, once you're able to understand just what the hell the characters are saying. In fact, the first twenty minutes of the movie had to be re-dubbed to make the Scottish accents more intelligible. And it's not even possible to just read the book to figure things out, because it's written using all that slang too (do they even speak english in Scotland??) Clockwork Orange was the same way, but we'll get to that in a few days...A lot of the hardcore drug scenes are difficult to stomach, the rehab scene is downright freaky, but it's still a really good story. Comes with some good quotes too, like the "Choose life" speech, and
Sick Boy: Personality, I mean that's what counts, right? That's what keeps a relationship going through the years. Like heroin, I mean heroin's got a great fucking personality.
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Begbie: That lassie got glassed, and no cunt leaves here till we find out what cunt did it.
Man: [shouts] Who the fuck are you?
Begbie: Yesss! [kicks him in the crotch]
Okay, I guess you need to actually watch the movie to get this dry British stuff...
This film received one Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium and didn't win.
2 comments:
Aye, The Scottish Brougue...It takes some time to understand it, I read the book before the movie came out and had to read a lot of it out loud to understand it but once I understood the lingo it was easier to understand.
I remember once sitting in The Strath with The Dukes father, Rankin, and trying to follow his brougue...The drunker I got the more sense he made.
So I will suggest watching Trainspotting drunk. I wonder if there is a drinking game out there...how about everytime they swear you take a drink...
There are five F-bombs in the "Choose Life" speech. At that rate, you'd be sloshed in about 10 minutes.
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