Throughout my life, I can count a number of cultural keystones that have dramatically shaped my tastes and perceptions. Keystones in the form of music, movies, television, video games and combinations of these forms of entertainment.
Around 1995 was when I finally heard that pulsing electronic sound that has been with me every since. I heard it on television from MTV's Amp. I heard it from video games in Wipeout XL. I heard it in the movies from Hackers. Drowning in a raging auditory ocean of Rock, Pop, Country, Oldies, this distant dynamic sound was so completely different. Once I heard these tracks and that sound, I knew I had found music that was for me.
It wasn't until a couple years later that I discovered Sasha and other DJs that really opened my eyes and ears to the Electronic Music genre as a whole. But for a time, I had a couple songs that were my own.
Had I seen Trainspotting back in my youth, it probably would've been sitting alongside those I mentioned earlier. Trainspotting is very rich in music, character, life, satire.. There's some amazing camera shots, and scene transitions.. This movie has it all.
10 years ago, I would've watched this movie again and again, dissected every scene, put meaning to the randomness, placed myself in character's shoes.. But today, I'm just along for the ride. Trainspotting oozes with Youth, especially seeing a young Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Johnny Lee Miller, and Kelly MacDonald run around in their low to mid 20s.
The music and the faces bring me back 10 years to the mid-ish 90s. Young and ripe. It's the same feeling I get whenever I pop in Hackers or listen to Atom Bomb, Papua New Guinea, Cowgirl, Halcyon.. (by Fluke, Future Sound of London, Underworld, Orbital).
I'm not sure if anyone else's brain works this way, but a specific melody or tune can bring back the most vibrant memories of my past than words or stories. Whenever I hear Atom Bomb, I'm instantly transported back to my room at age 16ish watching Amp on MTV's around 2 in the morning. Whenever I hear the Facility background music from Goldeneye 007, I'm instantly transported to Justin's Mom's house in Wayzata playing N64 with him around 11pm after working at Toys R Us for the night.
I guess the same works with images too, but it's not as powerful as hearing. It's a powerful touchstone at a singular point in my life that can always be revived by that distinctive sound.
Anyways, I'm sure I would've loved this movie If I saw it back then. But better late than never, I suppose. ^_^.
As mentioned before, Ewan McGregor is the main star of this movie, who has gone on to be young Obi-wan Kenobi in the Star Wars Pre-Trilogy. Kelly MacDonald is in this movie too! In fact, it's her very first role in a movie. She's the wife in No Country for Old Men. Also, Paige Marshall in Choke.
Also, Trainspotting is directed by Danny Boyle, whom you might know as the director of Slumdog Millionaire. He also directed 28 Days Later.
It's also interesting that almost all the actors in Trainspotting are actually scottish, except for Johnny Lee Miller.