Trainspotting (1996) - Episode 124

The Rewind Movie Podcast

“The streets are awash with drugs you can have for unhappiness and pain, and we took them all.” We’re heading to the murky hinterland of Edinburgh with Danny Boyle’s visceral 1996 sophomore feature Trainspotting.

Erudite, sallow twenty-something Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) has chosen not to choose life - he’s chosen something else. Heroin. He injects his days away at the den of his dealer, Mother Superior (Peter Mullan), with motormouthed James Bond aficionado Sick Boy (Johnny Lee Miller), and hard-luck idiot Spud (Ewan Bremner) - much to the dismay of his ball of lager-swilling machismo mate Begbie (Robert Carlyle), and the straight-laced Tommy (Kevin McKIdd). As Renton’s efforts to kick his habit lurch between success and failure, the unsustainable pursuit of the next high draws him, and everyone around him, into an increasingly desperate stew of violence and sickness.

A defining totem of the brief, cringeworthily christened Cool Britannia era, which saw filmmakers, writers, artists and musicians benefit from a sense of renewed ambition as the financially straitened 1980s gave way to the optimistic 1990s, it’s reputation persists as a punky hit with a killer soundtrack and an iconic poster that flew out of the doors of Athena’s in regional shopping centres across the country. But is that reputation at odds with the dour, challenging material? Join Gali, Devli, Patrick and Matt as they dive into a massive, pristine convenience with brilliant gold taps, a seat carved from ebony, and a cistern full of Chanel No. 5.

If you have a film you’d like the gang to tackle, send us an email at [e-mail]. For introductions, essays, playlists, and the full back catalogue of episodes and specials, find us at rewindmoviecast.com. For specially designed merchandise, movie shirts, posters, and our famous Bingo Trope Totes and a poster based on this week’s episode cover image, head to DevlinDoesDrawing on Teemill.

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