Trainspotting - ★★★★½
Trainspotting is a fantastic and deeply philosophical
exploration of addiction. We meet a group of friends, veterans of the Edinburgh
heroin scene, and follow Renton (Ewan McGregor) through his (hilarious)
journey, falling off or getting back on the wagon. We watch as Danny Boyle leads us through this
turbulent world, filled with the least charming people you will ever meet that
you come to sympathise with and be hopeful for, against the harsh backdrop of
looming heroin addiction.
One of the best things about Trainspotting is how off-kilter
it is on just about everything. The movie is hilarious while maintaining that
these are serious events happening to real people. Not only this, its depiction
of addiction is particularly off-kilter. In Trainspotting, it is made clear the
joy and ecstacy that a drug addict feels when they’re in the warm embrace of a
high, but it is also made clear the devastating lows that occur both before
achieving a high, and after coming down from one. Perhaps what illustrates this
most brilliantly is the now famous toilet scene. Once inside the toilet, Renton
is free, at last emerging from the disgusting world he resides in when sober.
But he once again emerges and wallows in the filth of the worst toilet in
Edinburgh.
Furthermore, even the characters in the movie are off-kilter, as you
begin to really sympathise with this group, despite their obvious pitfalls.
Spud is a stupid, naïve and nervous wreck when it comes to most walks of life,
and heroin has simply become part of his life. Sick Boy is an obsessive
co-dependent ‘non-addicted’ addict, while Begbie is a psychopathic, alcoholic
hard man who stays away from heroin.
Danny Boyle provides some of the best directing I have seen
in Trainspotting. There are over a dozen scenes in this movie where you can sit
back and allow Danny to show you the world like you have never seen it. From a
job interview while high, to a tortuous withdrawal from heroin, every shot
makes sense and drags you further into this very specific world of addiction.
The same can be said in the unexpectedly few scenes that portray drug use. When
Renton shoots up some heroin, Boyle directs the scene like the characters are
performing a stage play. The dealer and the buyer seem to be performing in
front of each other, as if they were not aware of the nasty nature of their
business with each other. And of course what adds another layer is that this
dance is really, really funny. And despite the events afterwards, the jukebox
choices and the POV shots from Renton makes sure the laughter continues,
despite the horror of what is being depicted on screen.
Trainspotting functions as a movie not only about Renton’s
journey, but also about addiction as a whole. Not just heroin addiction too.
Alcohol addiction is touched upon, sex addiction is the subject of a few major
sequences. Even Sick Boy’s obsession with James Bond could be considered an
addiction, as well as Renton’s need to stick with his friends, despite knowing
that they’re not really his friends, just people he does heroin with.
He even
speaks about this friendship as a high, at one point, before you come down and
realise how shit life is living with this addiction. With this portrayal of
what exactly camaraderie is, combined with the very grey-area portrayal of
heroin addiction, the movie seems to be asking the audience a very difficult question
throughout the movie. What does it mean to be addicted? Is it a bad thing? Is
it a key function in our lives as humans?
Should you be addicted to some things but not others? In the end Renton
appears to be addicted to life, which is perhaps the most reasonable answer to
any question over what exactly addiction is.
So as a result Trainspotting only gets better the more you watch it, and the
more you take in these ideas over how you should feel and why you should feel
that way over heroin, alcohol, money, and life in general. In 1996 Danny Boyle
broke out with this film, becoming a visionary British filmmaker in the
process, and deservedly so for a film as complete as Trainspotting. It means to
spend an awful amount of time and effort doing something menial and in the end,
doesn’t really matter – Trainspotting – and perhaps that is the best way of
explaining what exactly addiction is. The second best way, would be to watch
Danny Boyle’s film of the same name.
Wind River - ★★★½
More mystery than thriller, Wind River takes place in a
remote Native American reservation in Wyoming, where a dead body has been found
by the local game hunter Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner), who seems to have vengeance
on his mind. Accompanying him is FBI Agent Jane (Elizabeth Olsen) – a fish out
of water who has to combat the psyche of the Wind River reservation whilst
being determined to track down the killer.
The best thing Wind River has going for it is the hazardous
and hostile environment of this part of Wyoming. You can really feel the
enormous scale of the reservation and just how alone our heroes are in their
hunt for the killer. The film plays on this idea of loneliness and how this
fear of being alone drives us to our limits. We see this in Jane, the FBI
agent, who is clearly out of her depth, and needs help navigating the
reservation and its culture. We also see this in Renner’s character, separated from
his wife, lost his child, and now spends his days alone in the wilderness,
trying to do some good. All the way down to the details of the mystery this
theme of being alone in the wild is maintained. The body was found over 5 miles
from the nearest structure, with evidence of rape and battery
.
You get plenty of western vibes as you continue through the
story, from the Stetson wearing Lambert to the vast apparent lawlessness on the
Wind River reservation. And as we watch them trek through this mystery that
Jane is insistent upon being a homicide, they each go on their own journeys -
Lambert seeking some sort of closure, whilst Olsen needs to find herself in the
most challenging environment possible. The film likes to really ram that home
too. The characters may as well have been saying “Hey by the way, we’re in
Wyoming, Jane.” “Did you know we’re in Wyoming?” Whilst being ham-fisted in
this way, it all serves the subtext of having to stand as your own person out
in Wyoming, unlike in Las Vegas, where Jane was based.
Despite so much going on, the film suffers from some pretty major pacing
issues. It starts slow, then gets slower, and at seemingly random points throws
your right into an ultra-tense showdown. My point is, that there’s no payoff in
the first two acts, because of this shoddy pacing, despite it being suspenseful
and mysterious. There is no build-up the big scenes. It goes from a leisurely walk through the Wyoming wild to a cross-country sprint in the blink of an eye. It all feels a little rushed until you realise just how long the slower segments are. Despite this the third act
is absolutely nailed. A brilliant build-up of tension and the unravelling of
the mystery will leave you agape.
For the third act alone I would recommend anyone to go and
see this movie. It is mysterious, if poorly paced, and more parts mystery than
thriller. With a great subtext about Wyoming and centring around Jane and
Lambert’s personal journeys the film is a success as a low-budget mystery, even
though it could have been so much better with the pacing of the screenwriter’s
previous work, like Sicario or Hell or High Water.
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