Trainspotting (Boyle, 1996)

CRITICAL SCORE: 6/10 My first initial thought of the movie was that the acting and story line were very good and interesting. However, personally I thought it was too graphic (the needles).

Memorable Scene: The most memorable scene for me would be when Renton was hallucinating and seen the baby crawling on the ceiling. I thought it was strange yet clever the different ways the director made them be under the influence of drugs. I also thought the editing was unique and that’s why it was memorable.

Sound:

This is taken at the beginning of the film as it introduces the different characters. Music is played that is upbeat and quick which sets the mood/tone of how the film will be like. There is also narration over the top saying the characters names which clearly shows to the audience who is who.

Mise-en-scene:

In this scene there is very minimal mise-en-scene in the scene. The basic furniture around him, with dull colours helps the audience focus on Renton. Also the high angle camera view helps show he is the main focus as the audience is looking down on him.

Editing:

In this scene Renton is under the influence of heroine and is under a trans. When the baby is crawling on the ceiling there is obvious editing as they have to edit the baby the other way round to which it was originally filmed.

Cinematography:

In this scene the cinematography creates a chaotic shot. As this is an eye-level shot it makes us feel like we are sitting across the table from Renton and Spud. Also the eye-level shot helps us the people in the background and where they are (a bar).

Consider the ways in which the following groups are represented in the film : 

Young People: young people are the dominant age in the film. Renton and his friends are all young adults aged 20-25. I think they are viewed negatively as they are seen taking drugs and having bad behaviour.

•older people (parents/authority figures): In this film the older generation are the parents of the main men. They show they have authority over the younger generation as they are sensible and clearly show more respect and concern over their sons taking drugs.

•working class people: In this film working class people are highly stereotyped into merging with low class people. As most main characters are part of the working class this means that they are seen taking drugs and having no self respect and no morals.

•Scottish people: In the film the main characters are Scottish. However, not a lot of attention is drawn to this and doesn’t remain a key feature of the film. This just makes them seem like regular people and you are seeing their storey.

•Addicts: In this film there main supplier of heroine is ‘Mother Superior’ who is heavily addicted to heroine. They can be viewed as bad people because when under the influence of drugs they turn into different people that hallucinate and become naïve. In the film you can see them see things that aren’t actually there giving the audience a negative insight to drugs.

•Men: Men are the dominant gender in this film. All main characters are men.  

•Women: There are not a lot of main women in this film apart from the girlfriends of Renton and his friends. You see a women getting injected with heroine and she screaming and getting told it’s ‘better then sex’. This can give the impression to the audience that women are dependent on men and are scared of taking risks.