It’s a shame that Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life” is now inexorably linked to that fucking cruise ship commercial because, for me at least, its effectiveness in this trailer is severely diminished as a result. But gross commercial licensing aside, this is a great example of a trailer which perfectly captures the tone of the entire movie. Anyone who’s seen Trainspotting knows that it’s not all one big sneering jaunt through urban youth culture in Scotland, but the decision to use Ewan McGregor’s snide little monologue as the voice-over narration is a stroke of genius. It both warns you that you’re getting a film with some ‘tude, and also dares you to give it the benefit of the doubt. It’s both bold and vaguely obnoxious; if I’d have seen this trailer in theaters I’d impulsively want to see the movie, but I’d also immediately feel dumb for succumbing to the “scrappy indie movie” marketing ploy. Gets me every time! But it’s a foolproof formula: mix clips of both atrociously ugly and unbearably attractive Scottish heroin addicts performing various irreverent activities, up-beat proto-punk garage rock, and every bit of snappy dialog you can scrape together, put through the editing blender set to “Music Video” and bingo! Insta-indie trailer! That being said…great movie overall. Really lives up to its trailer. And Danny Boyle would of course go on to direct the greatest horror movie of our time.
Random notes: UK trailer = boobs and (bleeped) bad words.
Bonus: Ewan in kilt.
