After 25 years, it is still the coolest youth movie in history
Contemporary life is nothing but rubbish.
Efficiency, 996, attendance award, project, meeting, KPI, internal volume…
Profit, loss, surplus, receipt, lease, sub-lease…
Competition and the supremacy of production efficiency are playing out every day, and everyone is a small gear with no choice in the torrent of the times.
You can only move forward with the current.
The previous goal has just been completed, and the latter new task is ready to go.
Returning home from the workplace, blind dates, marriage promotion, childbirth, 30 years old, diapers, and childcare.
Private life is equally unchanging and boring, and you can see the end at a glance.
They are eager for another way out.
And this "way out" may only be revealed in the movie.
"Choose life, choose work, choose career, choose family…"
The lead actor, played by Ewan McGregor, opens the film with the word "choose life" at the beginning of [Trainspotting].
Twenty-five years have passed.
However, it is still so sharp that it directly hits the pain points of life.
The movie asks us this question: can we not be motivated? Can we not choose?
So there was [Trainspotting], the cruel youth story of the British underclass youth who was extremely depressed.
They take drugs, steal, cheat, and do nothing; they laugh at themselves, are miserable, broken, and self-absorbed.
This is a "less positive" movie.
But it was cool!It has been regarded as a standard by countless young people, and has had countless positive effects on film history and youth culture.
In the movieOn the occasion of its 25th anniversaryAh Kan has chosen30 detailed keywords.
Come and reminisce about this most classic British youth movie with everyone.
01"Choose Life"
[Trainspotting] The opening scene created the most iconic moment of the film!
The monologue "Choose Life" is so classic.
It was originally intended to be placed in the middle of the movie.But director Danny Boyle always wanted to give the film a cracking opening.
It’s been moved from the middle to the beginning, with the Iggy Pope song.Lust for LifeIn a series of hurricane-like drum beats, Boom!!!
As soon as you open the film, you will be sucked in by the beginning.
This clip was actually directed by Spike JonesBeastie Boys(Beastie Boys) The influence of the Sabotage MV.
The elements of fleeing on the street after theft and almost being knocked down by a car; the style of follow-up, fast editing, and dynamic jumping can all be found in the MV.
02 Carlton Football Club
Also in the opening paragraph "Choose Life".In addition to the protagonist group of five, there are also five members of Carlton Football Club.
In fact, it’s a club of addicts returning to their normal lives.
They actually worked behind the scenes as drug counselors for the film.
03 adapt
The film is based on Owen Welsh’s 1993 novel of the same name.
The novel became famous for its realistic depiction of the daily life of the underclass, and Owen Wales was even called "Poet Laureate of the Drug Age "…
Producer Andrew McDonald was so excited to read the book on the plane that he bought the rights and gave them to director Danny Boyle and screenwriter John Hodge for adaptation.
The first-person narration of the film is derived from the retention of the novel.
04 past
[Trainspotting] was born in 1996, but it doesn’t tell the story of the present.
The novel depicts the lives of young people in Scotland in the 1970s and 1980s.The movie alludes to its past tense in the form of TV news, rock music, etc.
It also resonates with the young people of the 1990s.
And, judging from the mention of the movie [Unselfish] in the protagonist’s dialogue, the story of this film is most likely to take place inAround 1987.
05 Trainspotting
The title of "Trainspotting" has multiple meanings.
The story comes from a Scottish game in which idle people pass the time by making impromptu bets in the place where the train passes, guessing the time and destination of the next train.
Another refers to the scars on the arms of addicts who inject drugs, like train tracks. "Trainspotting" means finding addicts.
It may also be related to one of the original chapters.
When the protagonists encounter a homeless man at an abandoned train station in Edinburgh, one of them sends a message to his father, who jokingly asks if they are "watching the trains come in".
06 Small and Broad
The cost of this film is extremely low, with a budget of1.50 million poundsduration7 weeksShooting, most scenes were shot at once.
The final global box office exceeded72 million dollars(48 million pounds sterling).
It was the most profitable British film of 1996.
07 dispute
The drug plot in this film has caused tremendous controversy.
Critics in London criticized the film for making people want to "test themselves for poison."
When the movie was released in the United States, it was during the US Presidential Election.Bob Dole, the Republican nominee, denounced the film as a "moral depravity".
But later he admitted that he had never seen the movie.
Interestingly, only Canadian police even distribute movie tickets to teenagers out of their own pockets.They regarded the film as an anti-drug textbook.
Because I think the description of the pain of drug addiction is very true and objective.
08 weight loss
Ewan McGregor for his role in Danny Boyle’s previous film[Shallow grave],And left a deep impression on Boyle.
Selected as the leading actor of this film.
In order to play the skinny, heroin-addicted Reiden, Ivan made a list of alcohol-free and dairy-free weight loss recipes for himself.
In less than two months, he managed to lose 12.7 kilograms.
09 Rebellious teen movie
Director Danny Boyle prepares his actors for roles by having them watch rebellious teen movies.
Among the starring characters are references to 1961’s [The Prodigal Son], 1973’s [The Exorcist] and 1971’s Kubrick’s [Clockwork Orange].
Ewan McGregor’s performance, to a certain extent, imitatedMalcolm McDowellThe performance in [Clockwork Orange].
10 Clockwork Orange
In this film, there is also a direct tribute to [Clockwork Orange].
The volcano club where addicts gather in the movie was directly inspired by the milk bar in [Clockwork Orange].
Even the writing on the wall in the bar is the same as the latter.
And the song played in the club is from the band "heaven17", and the team name is also derived from the movie [Clockwork Orange].
11 Taxi Driver
Meanwhile, a poster on the wall of the Volcano Club.
It’s from the 1976 Martin Scorsese film [Taxi Driver].
The classic images of Robert De Niro and Jodie Foster in this film are far-reaching.
12 Toilet fantasy tour
The most iconic scene of this film, in addition to the opening "Choose Life", is the "Toilet Fantasy Travels".
Ivan got into the dirty toilet, and on the other side of the world was a vast, clear, blue ocean.
What kind of brain could imagine such a wonderful scene!
This scene is actually a reference to Thomas Pynchon’s 1973 novel "Gravity’s Rainbow."
The same postmodern, the same quirky space and imagination are also in the same vein as the novel.
13 Chocolate shit
"The worst toilet in Scotland".
It is really well-deserved, with nowhere to go, shit everywhere, and the visual effect is very unfriendly.
But believe it or not, it smells pretty good here.
Because all that shit is chocolate.
I just don’t know if Ivan will have a shadow when he eats chocolate in the future.
14 007 iron powder
Soon after the movie begins, Johnny Lee Miller’s Sick Boy begins to dwell on the James Bond movies.
"[007’s Goldfinger] looks better than [Dr. 007’s Nuo], and then both of them look better than [007’s Diamond]."
Interestingly, the Johnny Lee Miller family and the James Bond series still have a "bad relationship".
His grandfather, Bernard Lee, played James Bond’s boss M in the first eleven James Bond films.
15 cameo
Raiden, the protagonist played by Ivan, plans to quit drugs. After getting ready, he opens the door and breaks the window in a blink of an eye and "forages" again.
This time, under special circumstances, it was the unreliable drug dealer Mikey who urgently provided him with suppositories.
The guy in the cockscomb punk T-shirt is actually Irving Wales, the original author of the novel Trainspotting.
Interestingly, the screenwriter John Hodge also had a cameo role.
The security guard/police officer who chased Reiden down the street at first.
16 Don’t do it
In order to approach the performance, Ivan had considered injecting heroin to help him better understand the character of Raiden.
But after reading a lot of books on addiction and talking to a drug counselor for the film, he finally decided against it.
17 boom and bust
In order to anger Leiden, the sick boy also went to detox at the same time.
And when we met, there were great truths. For example, his"One’s life is always prosperous and then declining, and then never comes back"And the "no exceptions" theory.
He cites numerous examples of famous people, including:
George BestFootballer, who became famous at the age of 19, was elected European Footballer of the Year at the age of 22, and retired from football at the age of 26.
David BowieMusician active in the 1970s and 1980s, spokesperson of gorgeous rock.
Lou Reed: He was the lead singer of the Velvet Underground and later went solo; his "Perfect Day" is also one of the most famous episodes in the film.
AndCharlie NicholasFamous as an Arsenal player in the 1980s.
David NivenEnglish actor, famous for starring in such works as [Tragedy on the Nile];
Malcolm McDowellThe character of [Clockwork Orange] is the most famous, but he fell silent due to drug addiction.
Elvis PresleyA pop culture icon.
18 Iggy Pope
In addition to the film’s opening soundtrack, which appears many times in the film, the poster on Tommy’s wall is precisely Iggy Pop.
He is known as the "godfather of punk music".
In the 1970s, his first two albums with the band Stooges became classic textbooks for rock and roll, and were even considered the pioneers of punk.
Later in the movie, Tommy and his girlfriend have an argument related to an Iggy Pope concert.
The girlfriend asked, "Me or Iggy Pope?"
It can be seen that this guy’s status in the eyes of punk boys and girls at that time.
At the same time, Iggy Pope is also a person with a deep connection to drugs.
In the 1970s, most of the band members broke up due to drug addiction, causing their star to fade.
19 heroine
Kelly McDonald, who plays the film’s heroine Diane, is acting for the first time.
She picked up a flyer for a cast audition on the street, and was so nervous that she got really drunk on the first bar scene.
She completed the first scene while still drunk.
The situation is not over yet.
When filming the famous bed scene the next day, she didn’t have much experience with the crew and invited her brother and mother to watch.
The scene was once very abnormal.
20 Sex Scene
The movie cross-cuts the different styles of bed scenes of the protagonist’s party and the swapped videotape – the shooting score of a football game.
The sex scene between Raiden and Diane just ended when athlete Jamie scored in the video.
The scenes are both humorous and groundbreaking.
It had a profound impact on later films.For example, this scene is almost replicated in the Korean movie [Color is Empty].
21 Crawling Baby
The crawling baby on the ceiling is also another famous part of the movie.
When filming this segment, there was actuallyTwo twin babiesBecause I am afraid that the baby’s physical strength will not be able to support long-term shooting
So the director let the twins take turns to play the scene.
22 Tribute to the Beatles
There are many shots in the film that pay tribute to the Beatles.
The scene in which the protagonist quartet (originally a group of five, but later Tommy hung up) arrives in London and walks across the road into a hotel is a parody of the album cover of Abbey Road.
As the four watched the train pass by in the field, their poses and positions were similar to those on the back cover of the album "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band."
23 soundtrack
As the most representative and popular band of the 1990s, Danny Boyle also invited Oasis to score the film.
But in the end, Oasis refused.
The reason is that they didn’t want their song to appear in a movie about addicts.
However, the band’s lead singer, Liam Gallagher, later attended the film’s premiere and generated a huge amount of publicity.
Liam also said that Trainspotting is one of his favorite movies.
25 color
As far as the appearance of the film is concerned, Danny Boyle was influencedFrancis Bacon painting colorsThe impact of.
The colour represents "a realm in between – part reality, part fantasy".
26 clothing
[Trainspotting] influenced popular culture at every level, including the film’s clothing style.
Even after 25 years, it can still be said that [Trainspotting] is a "fashion movie" that will never go out of style.
All the costumes that appear in this film,Either from the second-hand market or "copied" by designers in the punk style of the 1970s and 1980s.
Rachael Fleming, the costume designer for the film, observed the clothing styles of a large number of Scottish underground bands such as Buzzcocks and The Clash.
Its clothes are an "aggregate" display of British youth culture.
27 publicity
[Trainspotting] was a great success around the world, especially in the UK.
One of the reasons is also due to its dynamic marketing campaign.
In terms of promotion, the film draws on[Pulp Fiction](1994) The way it was promoted to the public successfully found its audience and hit a generation of teenagers.
28 Steal it a big TV
John Hodge, a screenwriter, was also a doctor before turning to screenwriting, so he had to deal with heroin addicts regularly.
Some of the experiences he heard about were also written into the script.
One example was when drug addicts stole a television from an elderly person’s home.
Interestingly, a few years later, in another famous addict movie[Dream Requiem]In.
The opening plot is that the son stole and sold his mother’s TV in order to raise money for drugs.
29 Irony of Thatcher
In the second half of the movie, when the protagonist Leiden moves to London, he has a self-reported line that says:
"There is no such thing as society, and even if there were, I would have absolutely nothing to do with it."
This line is from Margaret Thatcher’s famous quote: "There is no such thing as society."
30 classic
The film originated from and influenced popular culture, and it has become a part of popular culture.
In 1999, it was named the "100 Greatest British Films of the 20th Century" by the British Film Institutetenth place…
In 2004, Total Film magazine named it the fourth best British film of all time. In the same year, Channel 4 named it"The Greatest British Film of All Time"…
In 2017, Time Out magazine asked 150 industry insiders to vote, and [Trainspotting] was selected asOne of the ten best British films…
Finally, back to the question at the beginning of this article: Can I not be motivated? Can I not choose?
[Trainspotting] With a 90-minute descent, it leads to the return of the last three minutes.
Leiden betrayed his friends and returned to his normal life.
"I want to change. Move forward and choose life."
Work, family, big TV, washing machine, car, health, low cholesterol;
Loans, casual clothes, junk food, kids, walks in the park, nine to five…
Just look forward until the day you die. Not bad.
Fan engagement
How would you rate [Trainspotting]?
Please leave a message in the comment area at the end of the article.
Share your movie viewing experience with more fans