With live-wire energy and stylistic verve, the film bounces across the life and times of Mark Renton, a Scottish heroin addict who, along with his misfit mates, gets high, gets in trouble, gets clean, and gets high again, all in a bid to outrun the banality of modern existence. Kinetically cut to an iconic soundtrack of techno, rock, and Britpop, this indie phenomenon chooses life in all its ugly, beautiful, terrifying exhilaration. A jolt of adrenaline shot straight to the heart of 1990s British cinema, this darkly funny adaptation of Irvine Welsh's novel was a breakthrough for director Danny Boyle, producer Andrew Macdonald, and screenwriter John Hodge.
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MPAA rating: R; for graphic heroin use and resulting depravity, strong language, sex, nudity and some violence.
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