When a heart condition scares him, Renton (McGregor) returns to Edinburgh to finally face the music, 20 years after he betrayed his pals. Spud (Bremner) is still a junkie, and has given up being part of his son's life. Simon (Miller) is using hooker friend Veronika (Nedyalkova) to raise blackmail money to fund a brothel. Both Spud and Simon eventually accept Renton's presence, especially as he offers them both some help. But Begbie (Carlyle) won't be so forgiving. He has just escaped from prison, and has no idea Renton is in town.

Boyle directs in the same electric style, with frantic cutaways and a pulsing song score, including haunting echoes of earlier anthems. Watching it (especially in full-frame Imax) is viscerally engulfing, as the swirling imagery evokes an unexpected emotional response to go along with the edgy comedy and bleak drama. These are middle-aged men who are worried that the sins of their youth derailed them permanently. And their yearning to make sense of it is powerful.

McGregor, Miller and Bremner deliver punchy performances that are sympathetic, funny and bracingly unpredictable. Their criminal exploits play out like hapless capers, and they know they should be more grown-up than this. Carlyle gets to deepen the bullheaded Begbie by squaring him off with the young-adult son (Greenan) he never knew, and who isn't so keen on following in dad's footsteps. Nedyalkova adds some nicely layered interest as the feisty, underwritten Veronika, while Macdonald and Henderson are strong in brief return appearances.

As these characters collide and regroup, the decades of friendship and regret add meaning to every scene. When Renton gets a chance to revisit his infamous Choose Life monologue, the result is exhilarating and lacerating. And if the comment that "the world changes even if we don't" feels a bit on the nose, there's proper resonance in the way it plays out in the story's series of father-son relationships. And as it winds up its momentous narrative with some quietly profound truths, the film makes us wonder where these guys will be in another 20 years.

themes, language, violence, sexuality, drugs

19.Jan.17

From the team that brought us the witty thriller Shallow Grave comes Trainspotting, a thoroughly adult depiction of life in the gutter with a grittiness reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange. The story is set in Edinburgh, where Renton (McGregor) lives with his mates in a drug-induced haze. Their lives are so pointless that they can only find pleasure in heroin ... even as they recognise the chaos it causes. Their efforts to break the habit are fruitless; their lives are spiralling out of control. When a glimmer of hope becomes apparent, it seems like nothing short of a miracle. And it's interpreted differently by each one.

Trainspotting is an uneasy, disturbing film. It presents the situation with startling honesty. Gone are the cliches of hundreds of drug films past (The Basketball Diaries and The Doors come to mind). This film blows htem away like the dust they are. It's a film tat dares to admit that answers aren;t easy ... and the frequent appearance of cigarettes, alcohol and pharmaceuticals among the "non-addicts" drives the point home with a vengeance.

That said, it should be added that Trainspotting is fundamentally a comedy. (Really!) And it is very funny on several levels - as the characters use humour to make it through life and as we laugh at their silly, pathetic actions. As Renton and Sick Boy (Miller) dissect the film career of Sean Connery, a marvellous parallel universe develops alongside the more seedy aspects of the plot. As Renton and Begbie (Carlyle) try to share a flat, their lives and ambitions suddenly come into sharp focus.

The cast is stunningly good, working together as a tight ensemble, even though Renton is clearly the lead (and McGregor is particularly excellent). These brave actors create characters you actually like, despite their squalor and unsavoury behaviour. Credit also to Boyle for his inventive, eye-catching directorial flair. Trainspotting may not be the best British film of the '90s - there's a slow stretch in the middle and some convenient plot devices - but it's easily the most creative film to come out this year.

very graphic drug use, language, adult themes, sex, some violence