Original poster artwork · Great Cinema Master ListBAFTA · 1
Spoiler-free premise
Edinburgh heroin addict Mark Renton attempts sobriety while friends Sick Boy, Spud, Begbie, and Tommy keep pulling him toward old patterns.
Read expanded premiseLonger, still spoiler-free+
Mark Renton moves through Edinburgh's heroin scene with Sick Boy, Spud, Tommy, and violent Begbie while repeatedly declaring he will quit. Withdrawal, relapse, petty crime, club life, friendship, and a possible London escape compete with the group's destructive familiarity.
Why it belongs
Danny Boyle makes addiction propulsive and repellent through direct address, pop music, bodily surrealism, and a fiercely differentiated Edinburgh ensemble.
Read expanded why it belongsThe fuller editorial case+
Humor never removes the physical and social damage around him. The opening run, filthy toilet fantasy, carpet descent, withdrawal room, club strobes, Iggy Pop, and Underworld give Renton's subjectivity kinetic form.
