“It deserves to sell more copies than the Bible.” That’s what publishing company Rebel, Inc. had to say whenIrvine Welsh’s Trainspotting was published in the early nineties. This work was a perfect representation of the Scotland of the decade. It portrayed the confusion, craziness, and apathy its population was experiencing in that moment of crisis. Its film adaptation is considered to be one of the best films of all times, since it highlights those elements. When it was announced, twenty years later, that they were working on the sequel, T2 Trainspotting, many were afraid that the original’s legacy would be tarnished. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case.
T2 Trainspotting is a great film that shouldn’t be compared to the original, since it’s a high-quality piece that speaks for itself. The movie deals with another type of confusion: the one people experience when they realize there’s no such a thing as brilliant futures, and that nothing actually changes. While the first film dealt with some sort of hope for the future, this one reveals that the world doesn’t work that way and the most probable thing is that we all end up going back to our origins.
Following this theory, here are 8 films that represent the harsh reality that crushes all positive dreams, replacing them with broken hearts. –Funny People (2009) – Judd Apatow
Directed by American comedic genius, Judd Apatow, Funny People is considered to be the modern take on Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. It deals with existential crises, the absurdity of life, and the struggle of making sense out of all of it. Adam Sandler delivers his best performance yet, portraying a comedian in decline that finds out that he has leukemia. As he desperately tries to get his health back at all cost, he realizes destiny is something he can’t change.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_1jjqKFYaY
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The Skeleton Twins (2014) – Craig Johnson
Two siblings attempt suicide almost at the same time after realizing that their lives are not worth it. They move in together to protect each other while teaching themselves many valuable lessons. The tension between the two increases when chaos arrives and they can’t do anything about it. With a realistic perspective, the movie deals with the crisis brought on by popular culture and the mistakes people can’t help repeating.
–The World’s End (2013) – Edgar Wright
When Gary King was a teenager, he was a hero to his friends. They would get drunk and party like no one else. Twenty years later, no one wants to live that lifestyle anymore, which leads King to an existential crisis., He stubbornly forces his childhood friends to join him to the legendary beer tour he never managed to conclude when he was younger. The movie, that then turns into a Sci-Fi film, is a tragic, nostalgic, and sad story that reveals that in the end we must mature or die… metaphorically speaking, of course.
–Dan in Real Life (2007) – Peter Hedges
Directed by Peter Hedges, this great dramedy starring Steve Carrell, tells the story of Dan, a depressed widower with three daughters. He is an advice columnist who finds himself falling in love with a woman who turns out to be his brother’s girlfriend. This becomes an awkward situation since he’s at a family vacation with all of his family, including, of course, his brother and his new partner. Dan struggles with his depression as he tries to find meaning in his life.
–Beginners (2010) – Mike Mills
Beginners shows how far someone will go to believe a fantasy. After losing his father, Oliver starts reminiscing on the last years he spent with him. His memories inspire him to see life in a different and more open way. However, as he embarks in a new relationship he realizes the world works in peculiar ways and that nothing should be taken for granted.
–Filth (2013) – Jon S. Baird
No film pays better homage to Trainspotting than Filth, another Irvine Welsh adaptation. This film tells the story of Bruce Robertson, a despicable, a nihilistic detective who gets pleasure at the expense of others. He blackmails, abuses, and deceives as a mechanism to deal with his own issues. His attitudes slowly evolve into severe disorders that will slowly cause his downfall.
–Gone Girl (2014) – David Fincher
Beyond being a great metaphor of love’s madness, Gone Girl is a clear reflection of the Generation X’s deceptions and frustrated dreams. The main characters get involved in a web of lies and deceit that show how obsession can become a disease with terrible consequences.
–I’m Not There (2007) – Todd Haynes
No one can show life’s meaningless quite like Bob Dylan. Through poetic fantasies, the music genius narrates his life’s challenges and processes that turned him into the man he is now. He constantly fights to win the argument on his point of view about life or escaping the world. However, he ends up remembering that no matter what he does, people won’t change and, probably, neither will he.
–Trainspotting 2 didn’t stain Welsh’s legacy, but it improved it with this story that’s way more tragic than the original. It uses drug addiction to show that life sucks. Its dialogues are clever and take maturity to the next level. The movies of this list portray the same messages and show what we all have always known: life is meaningless, and we’ll never choose the right path. Or will we?
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If you’re a film buff, you might be interested in the Top 10 Movies That Were Inspired by Psychoanalysis.
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Translated by María Isabel Carrasco Cara Chards
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