Abbigail Azirou

Straightaway as soon as the movie opens we are aligned with Renton through use of voiceover and framing. In contrast to the heavy subject matter, the film narratively opens halfway through a scene, dropping the audience in the midst of action and subsequently engaging them. The non-diegetic upbeat Iggy Pop rock music creates an upbeat and exciting atmosphere and the cinematography is fairly bright and colourful yet at this stage still realistic.  The scene opens with Renton and Spud being chased, running towar ds the camera as Renton delivers his infamous "choose life" monologue. It discusses traditional life yet in a cynical way with an ironic view and satirical tone. According to Renton, life is food, work, material possessions, bills and dental insurance, friendship, ageing and death- and Renton "chooses not to choose life".  Essentially the film's ideology s conveyed through Renton, and at this point in the film the audience is told "who ne...

Trainspotting themes & Binary Opposites  Upon first viewing of Trainspotting, many believe it's a film solely functioning in portraying the use of heroine. Although it does this, it also proves to be much more than that. Some of it's core themes include: Drugs, Friendship, Betrayal, Life, Family and toxic masculinity.  Furthermore Trainspotting explores the notion of binary opposites, in particular Heroin Vs Sex, Heroine Vs Family, Past Vs Future and finally Begie Vs Spud. Each of these binary opposites are symbolised in what they represent. There were quite mixed reviews at the time as the movie wasn’t conveyed as a socialist realist drama.  Boyle often uses hyperkinetic editing, a vibrant colour palette and upbeat music to defy this genre. It shows a glamorised account of drug use yet also displays the extremely dark and sinister possibilities which results in active spectatorship for the opinion of drug use. Clearly drugs is clearly emphasised within the...

Captain fantastic :  Bo's Farewell & The Closing Montage Bo's farewell closely mirrors the opening scene, yet this time the "becoming a man" ritual is more genuine and sincere. Ben and his son are closely knit in this scene as Ben gives his son some fatherly advice  including " Live each day like it could  be your last. Drink it in. be adventurous. Be bold. Savour it, it goes fast" and ending in "don't die". The cinematography is extremely warm toned and bright. The shots types include a few over the shoulder shots but mostly a close up with the two charters in the framing.  Considering the journey we've been through with Bo and experiencing how he has dealt with the death of his mother and seeing his lack of experience in the real world, this "becoming a man" ritual re-enacting the opening one highlights that Bo was in fact far from a man in the opening ritual, yet the long expedition that we've endured with him ha...