The novel Trainspotting documents the shift from punk to acid house as the working class movement of choice. The film landed slap bang in the middle of the subcultural strands of the rave scene mixing into the Brit-pop era, and seemed to perfectly encapsulate the socio-cultural Zeitgeist. As iconic a British film as can be found, for being such a key cultural product of the nineties Trainspotting has aged remarkably well and feels as relevant and entertaining now as when it was first released.
1. Withnail and I (1987)
"We want the finest wines available to humanity!", "We've gone on holiday by mistake", "I mean to have you boy, even if it must be burglary", "Get in the back of the van!". You only need to mention Withnail & I and it's odds on one of these or another of its beautiful crafted lines of dialogue will be knowingly and gleefully shot back at you. Bruce Robinson's funny, poignant and even tragic film deserves its number one spot for being the perfect synthesis of characterisation, setting, performance, screenplay and direction. An almost faultless and uniquely British film, after almost 30 years Withnail & I continues to find new devotees, and will no doubt be discovered by generations to come. Any Brit-films from the last 48 years that should have made the cut? tell us below:
As well as the odd article, I apply my "special mind" to scriptwriting for Comics, Films and Games... Oh and I cut down trees, I skip and jump, I like to press wild flow'rs, I put on women's clothing, and hang around in bars.
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