With SKIN-depth Movie Reviews, we set out to look at films both new and classic, and how crucial the sex and nudity are to ones enjoyment of the film. Does the film hold up without them or is it an essential component of their success? Let's find out...
1996's Trainspotting exploded onto American screens in late July1996. While I can't speak personally to the seismic shift it made in British cinema at the time, I can say that it hit me like a ton of bricks in that first summer I had a driver's license, a car, and disposable income. Stylistically I had seen films similar to it, Natural Born Killers being the closest example at that time, but nothing with such focused intensity and desire to push out in all directions into every genre possible. Danny Boyle was clearly a director who was interested in energy, shooting and editing the film like a feature length music video, yet in a way that rewarded your full and rapt attention.
Based on Irvine Welsh's novel of the same name, the film focuses around a group of junkies—of one sort or another. The literal junkies are Renton (Ewan McGregor), Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), and Spud (Ewen Bremner), whereas their friend Begbie (Robert Carlyle) is more of aviolence junkie. What starts out as a sort of Richard Linklater film on heroin comes together in its third act when the four main characters team up for a deal that could solve their problems. It's certainly not a bad film in those first two acts, as they feature nearly all of the things you remember about the film: The humor of Spud shitting the bed, the horror of the baby crawling on the ceiling, the whatever the fuck that "Worst Toilet in Scotland" scene is about. It's just that the third act is where it all gels.
It wouldn't be much of a film if it was just that first collection of scenes, so when all of the characters and conflicts are put together into the drug deal, it transcends the hangout movie and actually proves it was a character study all along. Such is the great con of Trainspotting.Most of us went in expecting another Tarantinorip-off, and what we got instead was closer to a Woody Allen movie shot like a Nine Inch Nails music video. It's brilliantly subversive in that way, and holds up amazingly after all these years.
As far as the sex and nudity goes, it's more or less all confined to one montage a little less than halfway through the film. Most of it comes courtesy of Kelly MacDonald, who was 19 when it was filmed, playing much younger and obviously looking much younger as well. I'm sure the scene was as worn out on many of your VHS tapes as it was mine, but I couldn't get enough of this scene as a teenager. In retrospect, it's not nearly as sexy as it was at the time, but that may have to do with the fact that the American version is missing some crucial seconds which indicated she was enjoying herself during sex.
The fact that it's intercut with the decidedly unsexy exploits of Spud and Gail (Shirley Henderson) perhaps lessens its actual sexiness even further, but there's no denying that the film's sexuality was a part of its overall charm. Also, seeing cocks in a film that weren't attached to Harvey Keitel signaledthat we might be finally progressing as a societysexually. There's really hardly any nudity in the film at all, and it's all more or less contained in that one montage, but it'scertainly memorable and integral to the story's attitude of holding nothing back. If you're gonna show me the dead baby, I'm glad you're also gonna show me her breasts. The only other nudity in the film—from Pauline Lynch—is intentionally played for laughs, but again, the viewer gets out of it what they need.
Having watched the film multiple times in the late 90s, I was curious if it would hold up when I rewatched it in anticipation of seeing the sequel. It holds up and then some, and much like David Fincher's Se7en—which came out the year before—has been copied endlessly. Yet it shows why the original's always better than the copy, and the style that Danny Boyle brought to the table is as pristine and enjoyable as the day it came out. I'm a child of the 90s though, so I'm curious to hear how it plays to someone who wasn't even born when this one came out. The sex and nudity don't detract from the plot and serve such a crucial role in the style that I'm willing to call it integral to the plot.
All in all, if it's been a while since you've seen it, it's time to revisit. If you've never seen it, watch it and let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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