T2 Trainspotting finally made it to an indie theater in my city this weekend. I think it was my first in-theater film since Slumdog Millionaire in 2008. A lot has changed. They tore out 2/3rds of the seating and replaced them with a small group of leather recliners. It's interesting how the vanishing theater industry is mimicking the home theater environment to stay afloat.
The film was infinitely better on the big screen proper, without the camera shuffling noise and other caveats of the cam rip I endured in the absence of an available theatrical showing. (Typical of indie cinema, there are no leakable DVD award screeners, so the cams are all we have.)
There was an intensity and a stark mortality about the film. Having lived the full 20-year span between the original and its sequel, I felt the gravity of time-passed right along with the original cast, who themselves struggled with their own lives half-lived, unfulfilled, and the emptiness of their forties following decades of drug addiction, betrayal, and their destroyed families.
The music by Rick Smith of Underworld was highly evocative of all that has (and hasn't) come to pass in those 20 years. The band's seasoned and most dedicated listeners who've closely followed hundreds of unreleased experimental works they produced between '79 and the present will have their hearts warmed by smatterings of notes or instrumental elements for which they can instantly recall their quiet unspoken origins. "Long Slow Slippy" and "Everything but..." each contains such elements, and their pensive, melancholic tone serve as a fantastic complement to the story. Several other tracks from the original film are revisited as well. Brian Eno's "Deep Blue Day" makes a very brief appearance for those keen enough to detect it. When Renton returns to his train-wallpapered childhood bedroom early in the film, he removes an unseen record from its sleeve and drops the needle for a fraction of a second, teasing the audience with an explosive noise burst of the intro from Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life." (The track is revisited as a remix by The Prodigy before the film's conclusion.) And Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" appears transformed, this time as a somber piano melody credited to Rick Smith of Underworld. The band's classics, "Dark and Long (Dark Train)" and "Born Slippy .NUXX" are also featured, reprised in celebration of the iconic musical significance of the original film.
There are also many, subtle but clear nostalgic nods to the original all throughout the sequel. Key iconic moments are revisited or reframed, expertly actualized on the screen so that these moments contribute to rather than detract from the story.
I didn't realize it all this while, but I'd grown up with Sick Boy, Begbie, Renton, and Spud. There was a transcendent property to their reunion on the screen as the audience feels the weight of time right along with them. T2 served as a sobering but ultimately satisfying conclusion to the tale.
I've only seen two, perhaps three film released in the last decade, but I'm incredibly thankful that T2 is among them.
