ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 17, 1996 TAG: 9608190027
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO MOVIE REVIEW
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
At heart, "Trainspotting" is a horror film about heroin addiction.
It also has some wildly funny moments, and the pleasures of drug use aren't ignored either. Those scenes have led some critics to fault the film for glamorizing heroin. They're wrong.
Anyone who sees "Trainspotting" and is still tempted to shoot a load of junk into a vein already has several loose screws. Director Danny Boyle uses his considerable skills to translate the sensations of drug use into visual terms, at one point even going inside a hypodermic needle. The surreal world of addiction that he creates is much more vivid than the weirdness of his first film, "Shallow Grave."
In fact, the overall level of squalor - both physical and emotional - makes "Leaving Las Vegas" look like a glossy Martha Stewart fantasy.
The title refers to an odd hobby pursued by some British men. They note the times and numbers of trains passing through stations. But, according to Irvine Welsh who wrote the original novel, "Trainspotting is a futile occupation, as is drug taking."
Renton (Ewan McGregor) is our narrator. He and his pals Spud (Ewen Bremner) and Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller) are heroin addicts in Edinburgh. Their friend Begbie (Robert Carlyle) is a wildly dangerous drunk. (Think of a Scottish Joe Pesci from ``Goodfellas.'') A few months in their fractured lives are revealed in a series of episodic vignettes and scenes that coalesce into a single plot line toward the end.
The humorous moments deal mostly with repulsive bodily functions and they are bizarre beyond description. But John Hodges' script can turn tragic in a second, and it does so with dreadful power. At first, the conclusion appears to be relatively conventional and upbeat. Like the rest of the film, though, it's darkly fatalistic.
Obviously, "Trainspotting" is not for everyone, but Boyle has proved that he's a gifted and genuinely original filmmaker who's not afraid to take chances.
Trainspotting
*** 1/2
A Miramax release playing at The Grandin Theatre. 94 minutes. Rated R for subject matter, overall depravity, strong language, nudity, sexual content, violence.
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Ewan McGregor plays Renton, the narrator, inby CNB``Trainspotting.'' color.