Trainspotting

A cinematic rush that is tempered by considerable downers, Trainspotting may be a film about Scottish heroin addicts, but director Danny Boyle deftly injects it with a heavily stylized pulse that allows the movie to transcend its rather limiting subject matter. Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor in a charming breakthrough performance) is a young junkie who contemplates cleaning up his act and trying to make something out of himself, but mostly he's content to continue his habit and hang around with his sociopathic mates, including sadistic pub thug Begbie (a scenery-gnawing Robert Carlyle) and the suave, shifty, and Bond-quoting Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller). While the film, like its attendant Irvine Welsh novel, is largely episodic, Boyle and screenwriter John Hodge keep an engaging narrative thread going throughout, as the story inevitably returns to Renton's highs and lows. Elevated by agile camera work, striking imagery, and surrealist dream sequences, Trainspotting also features a pitch-perfect soundtrack that memorably includes Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, and Underworld, among other well-selected artists. Remarkably, Boyle and the entire principal cast have all gone on to impressive careers, particularly McGregor, Carlyle, and Kelly Mcdonald, who shines here in her small, but crucial, debut role as Renton's underage lover. Though Trainspotting sometimes tests viewers' tolerance with its detours into filth, depravity, and unintelligible Scottish slang, its wittier moments and undeniable verve easily win the day, securing its spot as a landmark UK film.