Rating of
4/4
They've got a Lust for Life
Gabe - wrote on 12/14/14
In my opinion 3 films released in the '90's defined the next generation of moviemaking. Clerks and Pulp Fiction (both 1994) and Trainspotting. I believe every movie made after these 3, with the exception of sci-fi films, could be traced back to one of these three films.
The influence of Clerks can be seen in films like The Blair Witch Project (1999) and any other found footage ad low-budget movie.
Pulp Fiction still resonates today. Basically every director who made his first film after 1994 wanted to be the next Tarantino. These films had lots of over-the-top violence and wordy dialogue that usually didn't work because the master, Tarantino didn't write it.
But what about Trainspotting, it's a little bit harder to describe. It's more a stylistic or visual thing. Requiem for a Dream (2000)is the first movie that comes to mind when I think of a movie that visually reminded me of Trainspotting. When Ewen McGregor's character goes to the store and buys his "cleansing" supplies. It's just like Dream. Also, they're both "anti-drug" films. Requiem takes it's message to another level.
The best scene in this film and I think one of the best in any film ever is when Renton "McGregor" takes the fateful hit that will end with him almost dead and in the hospital. And the one that eventually makes him take a long hard look at his life. The scene is set up perfectly. He goes to his drug dealer's flat and buys that fateful taste. And then he starts to sink into the floor. This I think Danny Boyle is trying to tell us that this is Rent Boy looking up from the grave. He's going to die/dying/or dead. And the song is Perfect Day by Lou Reed. The lyrics are "Oh, it's such a perfect day/I'm glad I spent it with you." Rent Boy's "perfect day" is when he's high and he's glad he spent it with heroin. Another lyric is "you made me forget myself/I thought I was someone else." A tad heavy-handed, but it's still...perfect.
This is a true landmark film,not only of the 90's but of all-time. A classic.
