Trainspotting is a British black comedy crime film directed by Danny Boyle and starring Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle, and Kelly Macdonald in her debut. Based on the 1993 novel of the same title by Irvine Welsh, the film was released in the United Kingdom on February 23, 1996.
The Academy Award nominated screenplay by John Hodge follows a group of heroin addicts in an economically depressed area of Edinburgh and their passage through life. Beyond drug addiction, other themes in the film include an exploration of the urban poverty and squalor in Edinburgh.
Trainspotting was released to critical acclaim, and is regarded by many critics as one of the best films of the 1990s. The film was ranked tenth by the British Film Institute (BFI) in its list of Top 100 British films of the 20th century.
In 2004, the film was voted the best Scottish film of all time in a general public poll. A 2017 poll, which consisted of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine, ranked it the tenth best British film ever. A sequel, T2 Trainspotting, was released in January 2017.
The Trainspotting soundtracks are two soundtrack albums released following the film adaptation of Irvine Welsh‘s novel of the same name. The first album was released in February 1996 in the UK and July 9, 1996 in the US.
The comparatively huge fanbase for both the film and the original soundtrack prompted a release of a second soundtrack on 21 October 1997. This second album included songs from the film that didn’t make the cut for the first album, as well as songs that didn’t appear in the final film, but were involved at earlier stages or were used as inspiration by the filmmakers, and one duplicate song.
The popularity of the first volume led EMI to reissue and continue to press it from 16 June 2003.
In 2007 the editors of Vanity Fair magazine ranked the original Trainspotting soundtrack as the 7th best motion picture soundtrack in history. It was ranked #17 on Entertainment Weekly‘s 100 Best Movie Soundtracks.
Tracklist::
- Lust for Life (Iggy Pop)
- Deep Blue Day (Brian Eno)
- Trainspotting (Primal Scream)
- Atomic (Sleeper)
- Temptation (New Order)
- Nightclubbing (Iggy Pop)
- Sing (Blur)
- Perfect Day (Lou Reed)
- Mile End (Pulp)
- For What You Dream Of (Full On Renaissance Mix) (Bedrock featuring KYO)
- 2:1 (Elastica)
- A Final Hit (Leftfield)
- Born Slippy. NUXX (Underworld)
- Closet Romantic (Damon Albarn)
