"Trainspotting" is one of those films that hit me at just the right time (early 20s) in just the right place. No, I've never been scottish or a heroin user, but being young, somewhat irresponsible and looking for a meaning in life, it intrigued and dragged me into this similar bunch of young men who were funnier than me, experienced more wild behaviour than me and paid a bit of a price for some of it.
Twenty years later, with both me and the cast in their 40s, the sequel comes along. And while this is in many ways a "men's mid life crisis film", it's an unusually honest and unglamourous one. Yes, there's an attractive younger woman to be involved in, there's minimal roles for the two highly talented women who've come back to do not-very-much in this one (Shirley Henderson and Kelly McDonald) - but that's because, as the film makes clear, no sane woman would hang around with these men for longer than she had to.
This trades very much on nostalgia for the first film, (there are frequent flashbacks both to the first film and to events further back in the character's childhoods) and I can't imagine someone who hasn't seen it would get much from this one - it's essential pre-reading. But as an aging man who grew up in the 90s, this hit me right between the eyes as an examination of our burned out potential and failure to live up to any of the hopes we had for ourselves.
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