T2 Trainspotting (2017) Film Review

Twenty years since Renton (Ewan McGregor) ripped off his mates and now he’s had to come back to Edinburgh from his new home in Amsterdam. Back to Sickboy (now known as Simon, played by Jonny Lee Miller) a wanna be pimp, small time drug dealer running the least successful pub in Scotland. Back to Spud (Ewen Bremner), still often a junkie who is trying to get clean and spend time with his kid, with little luck. Back to Begbie (Robert Carlyle), the psychopath with a score to settle. Well, let’s face it, they all have a score to settle. It’s not going to be a trip down memory lane.

But yet, that’s kind of exactly what it is for the audience. In many ways, this is the perfect sequel  – non perfect characters searching for some resolution, with much of the black humour and ridiculousness of the first film. It’s great. The soundtrack is not as good as the original, but it was always going to hard to beat that for me.

Trainspotting (1996) Film Review

It was 1996, I was living in London, listening to this soundtrack and loving this film. It’s one of those films that I’ve been fearful of revisiting in case it wasn’t as good as I remember…. But it really is. Thank goodness!

So, Renton (Ewan McGregor) is a heroin addict living in Edinburgh and hanging out with his mates: fellow users Spud (Ewan Bremner) and Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), health nut Tommy (Kevin McKidd) and psycho Begbie (Robert Carlyle). Sometimes they are using, sometimes they aren’t. But they are all just trying to get through life and eventually find their way to somewhere. Or not.

It’s a strange film, kind of daggy in ways. I found re -watching that it was far filthier and grosser than I remembered, but it really is a great film. To show how amazing drugs can be and then how terrible an experience using drugs can be with really no strong judgement. And it’s funny and sad and has the most amazing soundtrack. Certainly brought out my nostalgia.

Trainspotting was nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published)

Perfect Sense (2011) Film Review

Ooooh. What an idea. The world is suffering from some kind of a plague that affects everyone, sweeping across the world in huge waves. It begins with a wave of euphoria followed by loss of the sense of smell. People were confused, but quickly recovered. But when the next wave passed through, and the next, and people lost more of their senses, the world changed. Suddenly and totally. The film is told from the perspective of Susan (Eva Green) and Michael (Ewan McGregor) who meet and fall in love amongst all of this drama.

At first, I thought it was going to be one of those films where, despite some fairly major events, it feels like nothing happens. There are lots of long, slow and quite beautiful shots with dramatic music, and I was enjoying this enough, but wasn’t sure that I’d get through a whole film. And then things started to go crazy, and it became just fantastic. Quite confronting. Almost depressing. But genuinely excellent; I want everyone to see this film. Still, I’ve really got to stop watching films and reading books about the end of the world. It’s not healthy for my head space.