Trainspotting

If you despair of British films, are sick of petticoats, cravats and all that repression, fear not. Help is at hand. The creative team responsible for last year's Shallow Grave has now come up with the most exciting film about British youth since Quadrophenia. Based on Irvine Welsh's cult novel about heroin junkies in the Edinburgh underworld, Trainspotting is a fantastic ride and a bad trip rolled into one. Ewan MacGregor, one of Scotland's hottest young talents, plays skag-addled anti-hero Mark Renton, hanging out with a group of former school mates shooting up, shooting dogs and shooting their loads. And, with that, comes its own version of morality and betrayal.

While the film in no way conveys the bleakness of Welsh's novel, what it does do well is capture the author's black and cynical sense of humour. In fact, for the first 40 minutes, it's a laugh-a-minute comedy, more Carry On than Christiane F. When it kicks in, getting intimate with needles, a dead baby and toxoplasmosis, it hits hard.

Fuelled by a soundtrack provided by the best of British - people's band Pulp, ambient stormers Leftfield and a crooning Damon Albarn - Trainspotting leaves you buzzing, high on cinema. A superb depiction of that surreal hallucination known as urban living, it's also a great kick up the arse for the British film industry.

Reviewed by Monika Maurer

See what other kamera.co.uk readers thought about this film