Editing Trainspotting (film) (section)

==Reception==
''Trainspotting'' was screened at the [[1996 Cannes Film Festival]] but was shown out of competition,<ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/4705/year/1996.html |title=Festival de Cannes: Trainspotting |access-date=20 September 2009 |work=Festival-Cannes.com |archive-date=6 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121006104504/http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/4705/year/1996.html |url-status=live }}</ref> according to the filmmakers, due to its subject.<ref name="power">{{cite news | last1 = Power | first1 = Carla | author-link=Carla Power | last2 = Thomas | first2 = Dana | title = Track Stars | work = [[Newsweek]] | date = 15 July 1996 | url = http://www.newsweek.com/id/108146 | access-date = 16 April 2009 | archive-date = 23 March 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100323111810/http://www.newsweek.com/id/108146 | url-status = live }}</ref> It went on to become the festival's one unqualified critical and popular hit.<ref name="ressner">{{cite magazine | last = Ressner | first = Jeffrey | title = All You Need is Hype | magazine = [[Time (magazine)|Time]] | date = 27 May 1996 | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,984611,00.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080308025711/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,984611,00.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = 8 March 2008 | access-date = 16 April 2009}}</ref>

The film had previews in the UK on 17 screens, grossing £18,970, before opening on 23 February 1996 in a platform release on 57 screens in the [[West End of London]], Scotland and Ireland, grossing £532,950 in its opening weekend and placing fifth at the UK box office.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=UK Top 15: Feb 23-25|magazine=[[Screen International]]|date=1 March 1996|page=27}}</ref> It was the number one film in London.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=London Top 1 Feb 23-25|magazine=[[Screen International]]|date=1 March 1996|page=27}}</ref> It expanded nationwide to 245 screens in its third week of release and was the [[List of 1996 box office number-one films in the United Kingdom|number one film in the UK]] with a gross of £1,422,906 for the weekend.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=UK Top 15: March 8–10|magazine=[[Screen International]]|date=15 March 1996|page=23}}</ref>

By the time it opened in North America, on 19 July 1996, the film had grossed more than $18{{nbsp}}million in Britain. It initially opened in eight theatres in the U.S. and Canada and on its first weekend grossed $33,000 per screen.<ref name="gordinier"/> The film expanded to 357 screens and made $16.4{{nbsp}}million in North America,<ref name="boxoffice">{{cite news | title = ''Trainspotting'' | work = Box Office Mojo | url = https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=trainspotting.htm | access-date = 16 April 2009 | archive-date = 1 July 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090701003105/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=trainspotting.htm | url-status = live }}</ref> one of the biggest grossing films of 1996 in limited release.<ref>{{cite news | title =Top 20 '96 Domestic Limited Releases | work =[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]| page=20 | date=4 November 1996 }}</ref> ''Trainspotting'' was the highest-grossing British film of 1996, and at the time it was the fourth highest grossing British film in history.<ref name="Lash">Lash, Scott; Lury Celia (2007) ''Global Culture Industry: The Mediation of Things'', Polity, {{ISBN|978-0-7456-2482-2}}, p. 167.</ref> The film grossed £12{{nbsp}}million in the UK and $72{{nbsp}}million internationally.<ref name="petrie">{{cite news | last = Petrie | first = Duncan J | title = ''Contemporary Scottish Fictions—Film, Television, and the Novel: Film, Television and the Novel'' | pages = 101–102 | publisher = Edinburgh University Press | year = 2004 |isbn=978-0748617890 |edition=1st}}</ref> Based on a cost-to-return ratio, ''Trainspotting'' was the most profitable film of the year.<ref>{{cite news|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|title=Pix get ratio-active|first=Leonard|last=Klady|date=10 February 1997|page=1}}</ref>

===Critical reception===
The film has an approval rating of 90% on [[Rotten Tomatoes]] based on 95 reviews collected by the site, with an average score of 8.30/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "A brutal, often times funny, other times terrifying portrayal of drug addiction in Edinburgh. Not for the faint of heart, but well worth viewing as a realistic and entertaining reminder of the horrors of drug use".<ref name="tomato">{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/trainspotting|title=Trainspotting (1996)|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|publisher=[[Fandango Media]]|access-date=April 30, 2024|archive-date=27 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171127041504/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/trainspotting/|url-status=live}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], the film has a [[weighted average]] score of 83 out of 100 based on 28 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".<ref name="metacritic">{{cite web|title=Trainspotting|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/trainspotting|website=Metacritic|access-date=8 February 2018|archive-date=12 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112013158/https://www.metacritic.com/movie/trainspotting|url-status=live}}</ref> In his review for ''[[The Guardian]]'', [[Derek Malcolm]] gave the film credit for tapping into the youth subculture of the time and felt that it was "acted out with a freedom of expression that's often astonishing."<ref name="malcolm">{{cite news | last = Malcolm | first = Derek | title = Trainspotting | work = [[The Guardian]] | date = 22 February 1996 | url = http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/Critic_Review/Guardian_review/0,,530807,00.html | access-date = 16 April 2009 | location = London | archive-date = 7 April 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120407202859/http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/Critic_Review/Guardian_review/0,,530807,00.html | url-status = live }}</ref> ''[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]'' magazine gave the film five out of five stars and described the film as "something Britain can be proud of and Hollywood must be afraid of. If we Brits can make movies this good about subjects this horrific, what chance does Tinseltown have?"<ref name="jeffries">{{cite news | last = Jeffries | first = Neil | title = Trainspotting Review | work = [[Empire (magazine)|Empire]] | url = https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/trainspotting-review/ | date=1 January 2000 | access-date = 16 April 2009 }}</ref>

American film critic [[Roger Ebert]] gave the film three out of four stars and praised its portrayal of addicts' experiences with each other.<ref name="ebert">{{cite news | last = Ebert | first = Roger | author-link = Roger Ebert | title = Trainspotting | work = [[Chicago Sun-Times]] | date = 26 July 1996 | url = https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/trainspotting-1996 | access-date = 16 April 2009 | archive-date = 12 April 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130412084854/http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/trainspotting-1996 | url-status = live }}</ref> In his review for the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', [[Kenneth Turan]] wrote, "in McGregor ... the film has an actor whose magnetism monopolizes our attention no matter what".<ref name="turan">{{cite news |last=Turan |first=Kenneth |author-link=Kenneth Turan |title=Movie Review : Talkin' 'bout Their Lost Generation |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=19 July 1996 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-07-19-ca-25541-story.html |access-date=16 April 2009 |archive-date=12 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191012030705/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-07-19-ca-25541-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> ''Entertainment Weekly'' gave the film an "A" rating and [[Owen Gleiberman]] wrote, "Like [[Martin Scorsese|Scorsese]] and [[Quentin Tarantino|Tarantino]], Boyle uses pop songs as rhapsodic mood enhancers, though in his own ravey-hypnotic style. Whether he's staging a fumbly sex montage to [[Sleeper (band)|Sleeper]]'s version of "[[Atomic (song)|Atomic]]" or having Renton go cold turkey to the ominous slow build of Underworld's "[[Dark & Long|Dark and Long]]" ... ''Trainspotting'' keeps us wired to the pulse of its characters' passions".<ref name="gleiberman">{{cite magazine | last = Gleiberman | first = Owen | author-link = Owen Gleiberman | title = Trainspotting: Read EW's original 1996 review | magazine = [[Entertainment Weekly]] | date = 19 July 1996 | url = https://ew.com/article/1996/07/19/trainspotting-2/ | access-date = 16 April 2009 | archive-date = 27 April 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090427122247/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,293364,00.html | url-status = live }}</ref> In her review for ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[Janet Maslin]] wrote, "''Trainspotting'' doesn't have much narrative holding it together. Nor does it really have the dramatic range to cope with such wild extremes. Most of it sticks to the same moderate pitch, with entertainment value enhanced by Mr. Boyle's savvy use of wide angles, bright colours, attractively clean compositions and a dynamic pop score".<ref name="maslin">{{cite news | last = Maslin | first = Janet | author-link = Janet Maslin | title = Bad Taste in a Vile Story Doesn't Rule Out Fun | work = [[The New York Times]] | date = 19 July 1996 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/19/movies/film-review-bad-taste-in-a-vile-story-doesn-t-rule-out-fun.html | access-date = 16 April 2009 | archive-date = 26 May 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150526164937/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/19/movies/film-review-bad-taste-in-a-vile-story-doesn-t-rule-out-fun.html | url-status = live }}</ref>

''Rolling Stone''{{'}}s [[Peter Travers]] wrote, "the film's flash can't disguise the emptiness of these blasted lives. ''Trainspotting'' is 90 minutes of raw power that Boyle and a bang-on cast inject right into the vein".<ref name="travers">{{cite magazine | last = Travers | first = Peter | author-link = Peter Travers | title = Trainspotting | magazine = [[Rolling Stone]] | date = 23 February 1996 | url = https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-reviews/trainspotting-104723/ | access-date = 16 April 2009 | quote = Believe him or not, Trainspotting looks hard at the alternatives to living in oblivion. They're not as trendy as stealing and shooting up to a pulsating Brit-pop score (Elastica, Primal Scream, Pulp), but the film's flash can't disguise the emptiness of these blasted lives. Trainspotting is 90 minutes of raw power that Boyle and a bang-on cast inject right into the vein. | archive-date = 12 October 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191012032243/https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-reviews/trainspotting-104723/ | url-status = live }}</ref> In his review for ''[[The Washington Post]]'', [[Desson Howe]] wrote, "Without a doubt, this is the most provocative, enjoyable pop-cultural experience since ''Pulp Fiction''".<ref name="howe">{{cite news | last = Howe | first = Desson | author-link = Desson Howe | title = ''Trainspotting'': A Wild Ride | newspaper = [[The Washington Post]] | date = 26 July 1996 | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/review96/trainspottinghowe.htm | access-date = 16 April 2009 | archive-date = 7 November 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121107213514/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/review96/trainspottinghowe.htm | url-status = live }}</ref> [[Jonathan Rosenbaum]], in his review for the ''[[Chicago Reader]]'', wrote, "Like ''[[Twister (1996 film)|Twister]]'' and ''[[Independence Day (1996 film)|Independence Day]]'', this movie is a theme-park ride – though it's a much better one, basically a series of youthful thrills, spills, chills, and swerves rather than a story intended to say very much".<ref name="rosenbaum">{{cite news | last = Rosenbaum | first = Jonathan | author-link = Jonathan Rosenbaum | title = Too High to Die | work = [[Chicago Reader]] | date = 26 July 1996 | url = http://www.chicagoreader.com/movies/archives/0896/08026.html | access-date = 16 April 2009 | archive-date = 20 July 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080720113006/http://www.chicagoreader.com/movies/archives/0896/08026.html | url-status = dead }}</ref>

The film's release sparked controversy in some countries, including Britain, Australia and the United States, as to whether or not it promoted and romanticised drug use. [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] [[Bob Dole]] accused it of moral depravity and glorifying drug use during the [[1996 United States presidential election|1996 U.S. presidential campaign]], although he later admitted that he had not seen the film.<ref>{{cite news|last=Ross|first=Andrew|title=The fall and fall of Bob Dole|url=http://www.salon.com/1996/09/19/news_544/|access-date=11 January 2012|newspaper=[[Salon (website)|Salon]]|date=19 September 1996|archive-date=15 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915200324/http://www.salon.com/1996/09/19/news_544/|url-status=live}}</ref> Producer of the film Andrew Macdonald responded to these claims in a [[BBC]] interview stating "we were determined to show why people took drugs ... you had to show that it was fun and that it was awful" to which Boyle adds "It's the music and humour that makes people feel it's glamorising drugs."<ref>{{cite episode|series=[[Movie Connections]] |title=Trainspotting |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL4yTYFqX2Y&feature=youtu.be&themeRefresh=1 |date=26 January 2009 |network=BBC One |access-date=16 February 2016}}</ref> Despite the controversy, it was widely praised and received a nomination for [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Adapted Screenplay]] in that year's [[Academy Awards]]. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine ranked ''Trainspotting'' as the third best film of 1996.<ref name="time96">{{cite magazine | title = The Best of Cinema 1996 | magazine = [[Time (magazine)|Time]] | date = 23 December 1996 | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,985745,00.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070717025427/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,985745,00.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = 17 July 2007 | access-date = 16 April 2009}}</ref>

===Legacy===
The film had an immediate effect on popular culture. In 1999, ''Trainspotting'' was ranked in the tenth spot by the [[British Film Institute]] (BFI) in its list of [[BFI Top 100 British films|Top 100 British films]] of all time,<ref name="James2">{{cite news | last = James | first = Nick | title = Nul Britannia | work = [[Sight and Sound]] | date = September 2002 | url = http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/351 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120618102050/http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/351 | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2012-06-18 | access-date = 10 September 2009}}</ref> while in 2004 the magazine ''[[Total Film]]'' named it the fourth greatest British film of all time. That same year, Channel 4 named it as the greatest British film of all time.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.channel4.com/film/newsfeatures/microsites/G/greatest-brits/results/nominees/film/5-1_results.html|title=Greatest Brits vote from channel4.com/film|year=2004|publisher=[[Channel 4]]|location=London|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040711053446/http://www.channel4.com/film/newsfeatures/microsites/G/greatest-brits/results/nominees/film/5-1_results.html|archive-date=11 July 2004|url-status=dead|access-date=14 August 2018}}</ref> ''[[The Observer]]'' polled several filmmakers and film critics who voted it the best British film in the last 25 years.<ref name="Ob25">{{cite news | title = The Observer Film Quarterly's best British films of the last 25 years | work = [[The Observer]] | date = 30 August 2009 | url = https://www.theguardian.com/film/gallery/2009/aug/30/best-british-films-25-years | access-date = 31 August 2009 | location = London | archive-date = 31 August 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140831203606/http://www.theguardian.com/film/gallery/2009/aug/30/best-british-films-25-years | url-status = live }}</ref> In 2004, the film was voted the best Scottish film of all time by the public in a poll for ''[[The List (magazine)|The List]]'' magazine.<ref name="TopScott">{{cite news | title = ''Trainspotting'' wins best film poll | work = [[BBC News]] | date = 24 February 2004 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/3518815.stm | access-date = 10 September 2009 | archive-date = 7 December 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201207173615/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/3518815.stm | url-status = live }}</ref> ''Trainspotting'' has developed a [[cult following]].<ref name="Catterall">{{cite news | last1 = Catterall | first1 = Ali |first2=Simon |last2=Wells | title = Your Face Here: British Cult Movies Since the Sixties | page = 233 | publisher = Fourth Estate | year = 2002 }}</ref> It was recognised as an important film during the 1990s British cultural tour de force known as [[Cool Britannia]].{{sfn|Smith|2002}} It was also featured in the documentary ''[[Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Brit Pop]].''<ref>{{cite AV media|title=Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Britpop |year=2003 |location=London |publisher=Passion Pictures}}</ref>

The film title is a reference to a scene in the book where Begbie and Renton meet "an auld drunkard" who turns out to be Begbie's estranged father, in the disused [[Leith Central railway station]], which they are using as a toilet. He asks them if they are "trainspottin{{'"}}.{{sfn|Welsh|1997|p=309}} This scene is later included as a [[Flashback (narrative)|flashback]] in ''[[T2 Trainspotting]]''.

The [[music video]] for the 2019 song "Doorman" by English rapper [[Slowthai]] contains several references to the film.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.clashmusic.com/videos/slowthais-doorman-video-channels-the-legacy-of-trainspotting|title=slowthai's 'Doorman' Video Channels The Legacy Of Trainspotting|work=[[Clash (magazine)|Clash]]|first=Robin|last=Murray|date=7 January 2019|accessdate=10 January 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://i-d.co/article/slowthai-trainspotting-tribute-in-new-doorman-music-video/|title=Slowthai pays tribute to 'Trainspotting' in his new video|work=[[i-D]]|first=Frankie|last=Dunn|date=7 January 2019|access-date=10 January 2019}}</ref>

===Awards===
''Trainspotting'' was nominated for two [[British Academy Film Awards]] at the [[49th British Academy Film Awards]] in 1996, [[BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film|Best British Film]] and John Hodge for [[BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Adapted Screenplay]].<ref name=bafta1996>{{cite web |url=http://awards.bafta.org/keyword-search?keywords=1996&page=1 |title=BAFTA Awards Search (1996) |publisher=British Academy of Film and Television Arts |access-date=3 March 2017 |archive-date=4 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170304113651/http://awards.bafta.org/keyword-search?keywords=1996&page=1 |url-status=live }}</ref> Hodge won in his category.<ref name=bafta1996/><ref name="BAFTA">{{cite news | title = ''Trainspotting'' | publisher = [[British Film Institute]] | url = http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/529312?view=event | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081022232422/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/529312?view=event | url-status = dead | archive-date = 22 October 2008 | access-date = 10 September 2009}}</ref> Hodge also won Best Screenplay from the [[Evening Standard British Film Awards|''Evening Standard'' British Film Awards]]. The film won the Golden Space Needle (the award for Best Film) at the 1996 [[Seattle International Film Festival]]. Ewan McGregor tied with [[Ian McKellen]] for [[Richard III (1995 film)|''Richard III'']] for [[London Film Critics' Circle Award for British Actor of the Year|Best British Actor of the Year]] at the [[London Film Critics Circle Awards 1996]] for his work in this film as well as ''[[Brassed Off]]'', ''[[Emma (1996 theatrical film)|Emma]]'' and ''[[The Pillow Book (film)|The Pillow Book]]''. McGregor was also named Best Actor at the [[BAFTA Scotland]] Awards, and by ''Empire'' magazine.<ref name="BAFTA"/> Hodge was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay at the [[69th Academy Awards]] but lost to [[Billy Bob Thornton]]'s ''[[Sling Blade (film)|Sling Blade]]''.