Opening Statement

With the unasked-for sequel/reunion to Trainspotting now in limited theatrical release, it seemed like a perfect time to revisit the original and investigate if it still has a definitive place in our film culture. It also selfishly gives me an excuse to revisit Danny Boyle’s cultish breakout, as it is a film I know I had previously seen, but remember so thinly—baby on the ceiling aside, you try to forget that image – by Aaron Pinkston, March 27, 2017

First Viewing: Drugs Are Bad

I had not seen Trainspotting until now because it’s a drug movie. Without watching, I could tell you that it probably says what drug movies tend to say: drugs are bad. It wasn’t just that I imagined the director would play the role of a glorified school guidance counselor; he would most likely try to simultaneously borrow the aura of cool that drugs offer. Tedious – by Alec Jensen, March 27, 2017

The Neo-Macho Canon; or, Masculinity After the Wall

The film from the era that Trainspotting has the most in common with is Fight Club. Both were adaptations by upstart auteurs of acclaimed but relatively unknown novels about the disaffection bred by life in the globalized liberal order—an order that, in the immediate post-Cold War era, seemed comfortable, immutable, and very smug. Each story is also very explicitly about the state of masculinity in that order – by Patrick Brown, March 29, 2017

Curious Teens and the Basement Film

Danny Boyle’s film belongs in a category that might aptly be called the “basement film,” which is just a dumb thing I made up but could also be a real thing that actually exists. Ignoring the fact that I watched it alone in a glorified attic, Trainspotting is the type of movie that a group of kids watches in somebody’s dirty basement – by Maddie Freeman, March 29, 2017

Soundtracking: Lust for Life

The music of Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting has since become as iconic as the film itself. Boyle has often been accused of choosing style over substance, and of turning a subject as heartbreaking and sorrowful as heroin addiction into a two-hour music video. But Boyle wouldn’t see much wrong with that – by Zachary Davis, March 30, 2017

Related Review: T2 Trainspotting

Is T2 Trainspotting necessary? No. Is it good? It’s pretty good. Does it have thoughtful things to say about growing old and growing up? Sure. But is it fun to watch? I guess so. So there you go: APPRAISAL RENDERED – by Matt Warren, March 31, 2017

The Cinessential Podcast, Ep. 13

The Cinessential Podcast is back with John, Aaron, and Maddie discussing Danny Boyle's 90s-era slackerpiece Trainspotting. Topics include: the crew's favorite scenes, the indie film landscape then-and-now, and anticipation for the sequel – by The Cinessential, April 6, 2017