On T2 (based on the books Trainspotting and Porno)

I was sixteen-years-old when Porno came out, and I immediately got this copy. I was already addicted to Trainspotting - and by addicted, I mean fully obsessed: I had watched the film dozens of times, read the book, the film script, and seen the theater play twice.

I was living in Brussels at the time, and I would often go read in public squares. Every time I sat with this particular book, I felt a certain power, as if I was in a performance. That young girl holding a massive book with that title and that blow-up doll starring at whoever looked at me, without asking for permission, without giving any clue of what was the actual content of the reading.

Years later, I was thrilled when I learned Porno would be made into a film with the same cast and director as Trainspotting, with the right amount of time passed in real life just as in the books. Shortly after, I felt disappointed by the title “tee too” because it tones down the reaction it could cause, but I finally went to the theater to see it yesterday.

Of course, I did what I always do when I am nervous and need to push buttons: I got tickets for the wrong day. Because I had to sort that out, I got in the theater right as the film started, and I did not even have time to warm up with trailers and the like. The beginning is pretty similar to the book and got me all excited. The story then changes completely and does justify a different name, which was from then onward no longer an issue.

T2 is, in reality, an extended homage to the first film, while still being visually beautiful and with an impeccable soundtrack. The self-reference is so blatant that at a certain point one of the characters literally reads the first sentence of Trainspotting’s first chapter – “The sweat wis lashing oafay Sick Boy” -, which is fantastic for those who recognize it because it is the entryway to that entire universe, not to say it when you find out you are not reading a book in English but in spoken Scottish. There are many other references in the same spirit, Easter eggs, nods and teasers of a time gone by, both in front and behind cameras.

Because it is so nostalgic, T2 has many loose ends and does not have the power of its predecessor, but I do not know what its impact on someone that goes to see it without being as involved as I am. In any regard, the viewing was quite noisy, with the audience laughing, cringing, and gasping.

It has been almost fifteen years since I last sat on a bench at the Place do Petit Sablon with this book, and for many reasons I have been in a similar head-space that I was back then, while in the meantime I did the only thing that can be done: I chose life.

There is a lot more I could say about the film, but I feel it makes more sense to save it for conversations and not monologues. And off I go to reread both books!