Apropos of nothing in particular, this documentary aims to shed some light on the life and times of Irvine Welsh, author of the novel Trainspotting…and many others, but the focus here is squarely on Trainspotting, including the film adaptation which eclipsed the novel’s fame with its more streamlined story, attractive cast and exuberant, zeitgeist-y style. After we spend about half the runtime on Trainspotting, we get a shorter but lengthy section on the film’s sequel, T2 Trainspotting, thanks mostly to promotional footage from around the time of the film’s 2017 release. After that we get a mercifully brief section on the film adaptation of Filth, and just one mention of the film version of The Acid House, which unlike the others has a script by Welsh. The rest of the film is given over to various loosely related anecdotes of celebrity schmoozing, drugs and partying in the 90s, anecdotes which were probably a lot more fun to take part in than to hear about from those relating them, including celebrities some will vaguely remember such as Gail Porter, members of Alabama 3, and Rowetta.
All of this is to say that it’s hard to fault the film for, despite its name, not going far beyond the début novel that remains by far Welsh’s most famous, because it’s there that the film is at its best and, in any case, that’s the book and film most audiences will likely want to hear about. With that said, though, it’s hard to say exactly for whom this documentary was made. It’s advisable to have been young in Britain in the 1990s if you want to get the most out of it. Key contextual information tends to be skipped over, so if you’re too young, too old, too foreign or too uncool to immediately recognise the names of British musicians and celebrities of the time then good luck to you.
Even if the required information were included, it may not be wise to trust it, for the film’s captions sometimes include typos, beginning with an opening caption referring to Edinburgh’s “Princess Street” (it should be “Princes Street”). This speaks to a certain low-budget sloppiness about the film that is perhaps fitting for the punk-rock ethos of its author, but frustrating nonetheless. Ultimately, while Welsh’s own interviews, as well as those with rock star Iggy Pop and film producer Andrew Macdonald shine, there’s no pressing need for anyone to seek this out.