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T2 Trainspotting

My sister and I went to the Luna cinema in Leederville to see T2, about 21 years after seeing the first Trainspotting at the very same venue. A quick scan of the punters showed a similar demographic - middle aged, probably fans of the first. No surprises really. For me, Trainspotting is one of two films (along with Pulp Fiction) that epitomise the 1990s, so there was always going to be an audience. Danny Boyle, Andrew McDonald, John Hodge and the principal cast all return and there's a buzz seeing the characters again, in much the same way that people of my generation punched the air when Han Solo appeared in The Force Awakens.

T2 is funny and sad in equal measure (my sister thinks it's funnier than the first but I remember a few chuckles back then too). The 'reunion' scenes are mint - especially Renton and Begbie - and there are loads of Boyle-ish visual flourishes that show how good he can be when he's not making soap. There's one showstopper of a sequence where the lads go looking for some easy money and end up doing a bit of sectarian karaoke. Probably the edgiest moment in the film and also where it shows it's shared DNA with the first.

It's very well handled and it the filmmakers know exactly what they're doing. In fact, it's possibly a bit too clever - showing the flashbacks from the first film and having loads of visual and aural references (Renton starts Lust for Life on a record player but stops it almost immediately, he gets 'hit' by a car, looks into the windscreen and smiles, Diane (Kelly McDonald) tells him that a girl he's with is "too young for him", THE toilet, and so on).These are nice but they do push the film towards nostalgia porn. Sick Boy even says it when Renton tells him a visit to Tommy's grave (?) is a commemoration - "This is nostalgia. That's why you're here!" Could only have been clearer if he'd broken the 4th wall to deliver it.

To be honest, it has more of a story than the first. I've always thought Trainspotting was more a collection of superb vignettes than a narrative driven film. The subsequent T2 is built on the characters' attempts to reconcile with the past, face up to middle age and imminent death and, of course, get some tasty revenge. The only main character NOT to return from the first film tells Sick Boy and Renton (in Bulgarian) that they are in love with the past - and each other - and T2 itself sometimes echoes her sentiments.

Don't get me wrong, it's a ball-tearer, with excellent performances all round and crackling dialogue - Begbie's familiar greeting of "C'mere ye cunt, ye" is a peach and Renton's re-imagining of the 'Choose Life' speech is suitably gnarled and bitter. I'd gladly sit through this again, and probably will soon enough.

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