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The Rewatchables ·

Trainspotting

year 1996decade 90sdirector Danny Boylegenre Comedygenre Drama
host Chris Ryanhost Andy Greenwaldproducer Craig Horlbeck format 25th Anniversary
All 16 categories

Most Rewatchable Scene · 33:38

Begby and Tommy’s competing bar story

Chris Ryan: The first forty minutes are treated as a single thrilling rush before the movie turns darker.

Chris Ryan: The ceiling-crawling baby during withdrawal is explicitly rejected as the movie’s most never-watch-again scene.

The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie · 48:27

The drugs-washed-streets line

Chris Ryan: The speech beginning “It’s shite being Scottish” is explicitly called one of the movie’s most quotable passages.

The film

Trainspotting (1996)

Directed by Danny Boyle · Comedy

93 minutes

IMDb Find on JustWatch Find on Rotten Tomatoes
Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

33:38

Most Rewatchable Scene

Begby and Tommy’s competing bar story

Begby and Tommy’s competing bar story

In the discussion (12)
Approx. transcript time · 00:33:38Read transcript
  • The first forty minutes are treated as a single thrilling rush before the movie turns darker. — Chris Ryan
  • The ceiling-crawling baby during withdrawal is explicitly rejected as the movie’s most never-watch-again scene. — Chris Ryan
  • The editor whose name is transcribed as Masahiro Hirocubo is credited with constructing the kinetic opening and a narrative shape from the footage. — Andy Greenwald
  • The Choose Life opening is praised for matching kinetic images to Lust for Life. — Andy Greenwald
  • The monologue continues through the soccer match and rapidly establishes the characters. — Chris Ryan
  • Renton’s first attempt to quit heroin turns barricades, supplies, voiceover, and an immediate relapse into visual comedy.
  • Spud’s speed-assisted job interview is praised for balancing unemployment requirements against his desire not to be hired.
  • Begby and Tommy’s competing versions of a pub fight win because freeze frames, flashbacks, flash-forwards, theft, and present violence turn exposition into propulsive cinema. — Andy Greenwald
  • The panel’s final scene selection is Begby’s story and Tommy’s competing version of the pub fight. — Chris Ryan
  • Begby arriving in London and immediately ordering Renton around is praised as his past catching up with him. — Chris Ryan
  • The final heroin deal with Keith Allen is another favored late sequence. — Chris Ryan
  • The nightclub and sex montage is praised as funny, energetic filmmaking that briefly gives the women narrative balance. — Chris Ryan
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44:06

What’s Aged the Best?

Choose Life, the marketing, surreal flourishes, Scottish humor and specificity, the soundtrack, quotable dialogue, an...

Choose Life, the marketing, surreal flourishes, Scottish humor and specificity, the soundtrack, quotable dialogue, and gender-fluidity prediction

In the discussion (12)
Approx. transcript time · 00:44:06Read transcript
  • Choose Life remains a culturally recognizable monologue and is compared with Fight Club’s first-rule catchphrase. — Chris Ryan
  • The poster and marketing translated rebellious counterculture into a college-dorm visual icon. — Andy Greenwald
  • Surreal images such as the toilet swim and sinking through the floor relieve pressure after grim events. — Chris Ryan
  • The dark Scottish humor turns desperate material into comedy. — Andy Greenwald
  • Renton’s speech rejecting pride in Scotland remains one of the movie’s most quotable and culturally specific moments. — Andy Greenwald
  • The soundtrack joins older artists with contemporary UK bands and club music, providing a map through several generations of music. — Andy Greenwald
  • Oasis reportedly declined to contribute after mistaking the title for a film about train hobbyists. — Andy Greenwald
  • Lust for Life and Born Slippy create two of the movie’s defining entrances. — Chris Ryan
  • Perfect Day and Temptation gain new emotional meaning through their placement in the film. — Andy Greenwald
  • Danny Boyle is described as personally instrumental in choosing the songs rather than relying on market testing. — Andy Greenwald
  • The party exchange about football and shopping remains a personally durable quote. — Andy Greenwald
  • Renton’s prediction that gender categories will disappear is judged to have aged well. — Andy Greenwald
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57:17

What’s Aged the Worst?

The dead baby, feces, withdrawal, underage sex, and narrow male point of view

The dead baby, feces, withdrawal, underage sex, and narrow male point of view

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:57:17Read transcript
  • Dead babies are named in the big three for what aged worst. — Chris Ryan
  • Drug withdrawal is separately named among the material hardest to revisit. — Chris Ryan
  • The two feces sequences reportedly used melted chocolate and remain difficult to revisit. — Andy Greenwald
  • Diane’s underage sexual relationship and blackmail remain disturbing even though Renton is alarmed by her age. — Andy Greenwald
  • At breakfast, the adult visitor calls Diane's parents her flatmates, and her father treats the situation as merely a new excuse. — Andy Greenwald
  • Gail, Lizzie, and Diane are liked, but the movie gives its women too little narrative space and remains locked to a male perspective. — Chris Ryan
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1:02:50

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

Keith Allen; the dealer performer transcribed as Peter Mullen; Irvine Welsh

Keith Allen; the dealer performer transcribed as Peter Mullen; Irvine Welsh

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:50Read transcript
  • Keith Allen is nominated for the final drug dealer, extending the kind of role he played in Shallow Grave. — Chris Ryan
  • Keith Allen is identified as Lily and Alfie Allen’s father and described as a comedian, actor, and musician. — Chris Ryan
  • The performer whose name is transcribed as Peter Mullen is recognized on rewatch after later roles in Top of the Lake, Ozark, The Underground Railroad, and Quarry. — Andy Greenwald
  • His dealer serves heroin like a restaurant meal and handles Renton’s overdose without panic. — Andy Greenwald
  • A deleted hospital scene is described in which Mother Superior has lost a leg and says pretending to be a Falklands veteran earns more than heroin dealing. — Andy Greenwald
  • Irvine Welsh is proposed for his brief appearance as Mikey Forrester.
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1:07:14

Apex Mountain

The performers transcribed as Johnny Lee Miller and Ewen Bremont; “Born Slippy”

The performers transcribed as Johnny Lee Miller and Ewen Bremont; “Born Slippy”

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:07:14Read transcript
  • The director’s later Oscars and blockbusters keep this from being his clear apex. — Chris Ryan
  • Ewan McGregor is considered but has too many later peaks and valleys for a simple verdict. — Chris Ryan
  • The performers whose names are transcribed as Johnny Lee Miller and Bremont receive positive apex verdicts. — Chris Ryan
  • Kelly Macdonald is rejected because she went on to substantial later work. — Andy Greenwald
  • Sick Boy’s theory that greatness is acquired and then permanently lost is identified as an early conceptual version of Apex Mountain.
  • A proposed Sick Boy inflection-point category would mark the work where a career starts descending or briefly rebounds.
  • Robert Carlyle is debated because he is excellent here and in the sequel. — Chris Ryan
  • Born Slippy is chosen as an apex for needle drops because it begins at Renton’s decision to steal the money and makes the escape feel both ecstatic and uncertain. — Andy Greenwald
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1:11:57

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

James Cosmo and Shirley Henderson

James Cosmo and Shirley Henderson

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:11:57Read transcript
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1:13:41

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

Begby; Irvine Welsh (affectionate alternate)

Begby; Irvine Welsh (affectionate alternate)

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:13:41Read transcript
  • Begby is offered because he screams through much of the movie, though the performance is not criticized. — Chris Ryan
  • Irvine Welsh is jokingly chosen because his two scenes sometimes hold on an extra look toward the camera. — Andy Greenwald
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1:26:08

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

No series: the intensity and economy depend on the 93-minute form

No series: the intensity and economy depend on the 93-minute form

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:26:08Read transcript
  • The vignette-based Scottish drug subculture could supply television stories, but the movie works because it is a short cinematic firecracker. — Andy Greenwald
  • The limited budget gives the overdose, toilet, locations, clothes, and unreal baby a handmade texture that a larger series could lose. — Andy Greenwald
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1:29:05

Who Won the Movie?

The generation that was 19 in 1996

The generation that was 19 in 1996

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:29:05Read transcript
  • Ewan McGregor is praised for making Renton funny, charismatic, and emotionally legible despite extreme behavior. — Andy Greenwald
  • Danny Boyle is chosen for the visual invention that unlocked the material. — Chris Ryan
  • The soundtrack and marketing team are additional winners because the sound, orange-gray palette, font, and campaign made the movie a global cultural object. — Andy Greenwald
  • The final collective answer is people who were 19 in 1996 and received a path into a larger culture of music, books, film, and friendship. — Andy Greenwald
Podcast choices
Andy Greenwald
People who were 19 in 1996
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