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Dom Robinson reviews

Trainspotting Logo

Distributed by

Polygram

Trainspotting on DVD
Choose life, choose a job, choose a career, choose a family, choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers, choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance, choose fixed interest mortgage repayments, choose a starter home, choose your friends, choose leisure wear and matching luggage, choose a three-piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics, choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning, choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing spirit-crushing gameshows stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth, choose rotting away at the end of it all pissing your last in a miserable home nothing more than an embarassment to the selfish fucked-up brats that you've spawned to replace yourselves, choose your future, choose life, but why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life, I chose something else, and the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?


The film tells the tale of Renton, a man with a chronic heroin addiction, who is trying to kick the habit. Not easy as you might imagine, but inventive visuals from the director make his journey almost as real for the viewer as it is for his character, and he is played superbly by the star of his generation, Ewan McGregor who has been chosen to appear as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the new Star Wars prequels.

Also thrown into the mix is Diane, Renton's new girlfriend, who has one major surprise for him; Sick Boy, who aims to kick the habit at the same time as Renton - not for any particular reason, other than to completely piss Renton off as to how easily it can be done; Spud, Renton's best friend, who isn't very good in job interviews, and even worse at trying to keep his bedsheets clean; Tommy, a sex-mad drug-hater, who makes XXX videos with his girlfriend; and last, but not least, Begbie, played by the always-excellent Robert Carlyle, whose finest hour to date, The Full Monty, was screened at my local cinema for seven months straight and was still pulling in the crowds when the video went on sale. Begbie is a complete madman, always getting drunk and looking for the next fight....oh, and swearing a great deal too...

A couple of cameos in this film include Keith Allen, one part of pop-band Fat Les, who showed up as the temporary flatmate in Shallow Grave, and appears here as a drug buyer; and Dale Winton playing himself as a game-show host.


The picture on the widescreen version is framed at the original intended ratio of 1.77:1, so will fit exactly into the frame of a widescreen television. The disc is 16:9-enhanced for widescreen televisions and has a good average bitrate of 5.43Mb/s. The quality is mostly excellent too, with artifacts only prevalent in a few scenes and even then they're not too distracting and won't be that noticeable for those sitting at the usual viewing distance.

Those without a preference for the full picture will find a 4:3 open-matte picture on the flip-side complete with the same extras mentioned later.

The sound quality is fantastic, really coming into its own when blasting out classic tracks such as : Iggy Pop - Lust For Life; Heaven 17 - Temptation; Underworld - Born Slippy and Blondie - Atomic. After watching this film, every time I hear the latter on the radio, it brings me back to the moment where Renton's sexual appetite returns and he cops off (and more) with newcomer Kelly MacDonald.


Extras :

Chapters :

There are 20 chapters spread throughout the film which is fine for a film that runs barely an hour-and-a-half.

Cast And Crew Biographies :

There are detailed biographies for all the principal cast members listed earlier in this review, plus screenwriter John Hodge, director Danny Boyle and producer Andrew MacDonald.

Languages and Subtitles :

The disc contains English, French and Spanish language soundtracks all in Dolby Digital 5.1 plus subtitles for the these three plus Dutch.

Note that whether you choose subtitles or not, they are present during the nightclub scene (ch.9) when Tommy and Spud are talking as they are intentionally there and are also in the American release.

Menu :

The interactive menu is a little bizarre, since a mouse click is required just above the required option. Some options are highlighted whereas other pages proffer the guessing game. The menu is static apart from the scene selection which plays animations of the particular scenes.


It's unfortunate that this, or any UK PAL version of the film will be cut for nine seconds of drug abuse. I presume this is for viewing the actual needle piercing the skin while injecting, which is the same thing that Pulp Fiction suffered from when released on UK PAL video and laserdisc.

On a side note, the original American release of this film had the first twenty minutes dubbed into American accents (!), and some sex scenes removed. When the MPAA (the USA equivalent of the BBFC) asked director Danny Boyle what Diane was doing to Renton while on top and reaching down with her hand between his legs... he said "Tickling his balls". The MPAA were not amused, and instructed him to cut the scene. Since then, an unrated NTSC Laserdisc has been released in an uncut widescreen format with a Dolby Digital soundtrack, the nine cut scenes featured here, a brief (and I mean brief) interview with the writer of the book, Irvine Welsh (who incidentally makes an appearance early on in the film as Mickey, a dealer who sells Renton his "final" hit), and an audio commentary from the director.

I've also now been told (as of Feb 10th, 1999) by Steve Webb that the Canadian DVD contains the 9 cut scenes and interviews. The flip-side is a CD containing 8 tracks of train noises and the packaging is different as one side of the cover is in French.

Since all of this could have been included on a single DVD, why are we given nothing at all apart from the standard cast/crew biographies? Or are Polygram planning to do what VHS has been doing for years, namely releasing one version followed by a "Special Edition" ? At least they could have included the two trailers (one teaser trailer and one theatrical trailer), the Underworld promo (Born Slippy) and the nine scenes not included in the final version of the film, which went to make up the "Green Edition" VHS tape released in September 1997.

What's here is certainly worth a purchase if you're not bothered about extras, but while the film is an absolute must-see, the overall package is a missed opportunity.

Additional: Since my review the original DVD released was the uncut European release containing the 14 seconds of BBFC-unfriendly drugs-taking moments. The package was re-released on March 22nd 1999, minus these seconds, as well as any language and subtitles other than English, albeit in the same box!

FILM                    : *****
PICTURE QUALITY         : ****
SOUND QUALITY           : *****
EXTRAS                  : *
-------------------------------
OVERALL                 : ****

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1999.

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