"Trainspotting," a film by new Scottish director Danny Boyle, is certain to shatter quaint images of Scotland, the land of kilts and bagpipes.
The film is a passive and aloof examination of the habits of several heroine junkies in Edinburgh. The essentially dismal plot is alleviated at times by humor, which is sometimes effective, but occasionally inept and out of place.
Miramax Films bills the picture as "hilarious but harrowing." According to the studio's press release, "The film charts the disintegration of [the group's] friendship as they proceed, seemingly inevitably, towards self destruction."
Boyle shows an obvious innate talent at film making, although many sections of the film show a lack of skill.
Instead of depicting the craggy landscape and comfortable pubs of Scotland, "Trainspotting" offers the viewer a glimpse at the seamier side of life in the highlands.
Gloom and dinginess is evident in every scene of "Trainspotting." Interiors of buildings are invariably poorly lighted and dingy, while the outdoors are uniformly portrayed as bleak and overcast.
The dialogue is rough and spoken at a frenzied clip. The language is so garbled that a scene in a disco contains subtitles in English.
Likewise, the habits of the characters are low-minded and unsavory. They exhibit the lowest possible moral standards at all times, cheating their friends and stealing to earn money or heroin.
The movie opens with a scene of the main characters running away from several policemen after shoplifting from a store in Edinburgh.
From that point, the plot proceeds in an orderly and traditional manner, passively recording the exploits of the gang of heroin junkies.
Mark Renton, the main character, says in the opening dialogue, "People talk about the horrors of heroin, but they forget one thing, the feeling. If it didn't feel good, we would not do it."
Miramax wrote in its press release, "Mark alone has the insight and opportunity to escape his fate, but then again, does he really want to 'choose life'?"
Perhaps the lack of perspective is a reason why "Trainspotting" depends on violence and bathroom humor to appeal to its audience.
The film contains a good deal of graphic violence that is somewhat disturbing at first, but veterans of modern cinema will find themselves quickly acclimated to the bloody and repetitive barroom brawls.
Several scenes in the movie concern themselves with jokes centered around defecation.
It seems these alarmingly graphic scenes are distinctly out of place and irrelevant to the plot.
But Boyle incorporates some unusual and innovative scenes into the movie, saving it from being tossed aside along with all the other recently released movies vaguely reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction."
Several scenes exhibit a willingness to experiment and take risks, mostly meeting with success.
In one scene Mark dives into a toilet, looking for his suppositories, and as he overdoses on heroin, the carpet on which he is lying ominously sinks into the floor, creating a hole reminiscent of a grave.
Not all of Boyle's techniques meet with such success.
The scene in which McGregor's character Mark is forced to quit heroin by his parents is overly lengthy, and the surrealistic imagery is ineffective.
Character development is minimal. While the love interest of the main character is skillfully introduced, she is left in limbo for the rest of the movie, excluding one short scene.
By the end of the film, none of the characters has changed or matured significantly.
While not always on the mark, "Trainspotting" is a fairly good film, and in spite of its shortcomings shows a good deal of promise for Boyle, an up-and-coming director.
Complimentary tickets provided by the Nugget Theater.
