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Many people are curious, what exactly is "guessing the train"? "Guess the train" is a game in which idle people pass by by improvising bets and guessing when and where the next train will pass. In this name, it seems to foreshadow the unknowable life and fate of the protagonists.
Guess the Train is a drama film directed by British director Danny Boyle and adapted from Owen Welsh's novel Of the same name, Guess the Train, starring Ivan McGregor, Evan Bryner and others. Ivan took advantage of this to become a hit, winning the Best Actor Award at the 1997 British Academy Film Awards and the Best Actor Award in Independent Film in Europe, becoming a male god in the minds of countless people.
The film is about a group of Edinburgh-based addicts, namely Mark Reton (Ivan McGregor), Sick Boy (Johnny Lee Miller), Spud (Evan Bryner) and Francis Begbie (Robert Carlisle), who fans perhaps prefer to refer to as Mark, Sick Boy, Potato and Franco. They are a generation of Edinburgh addicts in the UK, living in the garbage bottom and enjoying themselves. Such a life and our life seem to be 18,000 miles apart, but why can it be my life guide?
I believe that when I first watched "Guess the Train", many people couldn't understand what the movie was about at once, because it was confusing enough, the personalization was so obvious that I even saw some psychedelic colors in it, but then it made us reminisce endlessly. In the film, the audience's vision changes with Mark's vision, and we can't know much more, but can only understand the progress of the plot through Mark's extensive monologues and the events he experienced. A lot of small fragments, at first even let the audience not know what to do, but slowly, it makes us want to stop.
One of the scenes that impressed me the most in the film was the magic toilet, which was a god-like shot. Mark went into what was said to be the dirtiest toilet in England, but behind the surface of the filth was a clear lake. I don't know what the director is trying to say in this shot, but I know that we can never conclude on the surface, even if Mark is bad, but I know that even if he is not a good boy, he is a pure boy, and purity is more difficult to come by than the so-called good.
Mark always said that he wanted to quit drugs, but he never succeeded until Potato went to prison. Mark was supposed to be forced to quit drugs, but he wanted to secretly get a little cool, but he didn't expect to go to the hospital and be locked up in his room to rehabilitate under the compulsion of his parents. This passage is very interesting, because the drug addiction makes him hallucinate, and in front of him, there are illusions, there are Franco, there is Tommy, and even Allison and the sick boy's child, the baby who died in front of them. This paragraph is very depressing and painful, and this is everything that Mark can't get rid of, whether in reality or in hallucinations, he can't get rid of such confusion and depression. After this drug rehab, Mark seems to have regained his life. He got a serious job and began to be hopeful about life, saying to himself: "For the first time in my adult life, I feel fulfilled." ”
It all seemed so hopeful, but I saw despair. Isn't that a compromise in another sense? Behind the seemingly stable and smooth life, there is another word, that is, compromise. Mark is actually the representative of the so-called "mentally empty" teenagers, whether it is drugs or other means, just to express their dissatisfaction with life. The reason why they are like this is only because they can't find the meaning of their lives, so they are angry for anger, they are opposed for opposition, they are rebellious for rebellion, and this is their life. Life has no direction, there must always be other exits. But one day, those grievances will be slowly polished and then disappeared. No matter how much reluctant rebellion there is, most people will eventually compromise and bow to a life of inaction. This is actually not the most terrible, the most terrible thing is that we have forgotten the original intention, forgotten the unwillingness of the past, forgotten the anger that we have had, and have been drowning in such a life ever since.
No matter what era or society it is, there are always some teenagers who have had the so-called "spiritual emptiness". Because of emptiness, self-exile. Like Mark in the film, we are always wrestling with fate, not knowing where we will end up. I don't know in which moment my dissatisfaction with life will be smoothed out, I don't know if the next moment will be worse, I don't know how long such a lost life will take, I don't even know if I will be like Mark, from choosing a life that does not have to be chosen to starting to choose life, I don't know anything. Every step of life is unknown, and all we can do is move forward. As Jack Kerouac said in "On the Road": "I am still young, I am eager to go on the road, with the initial passion, chasing the first dream, feeling the first experience, let's go on the road." ”
Because of its own specialness, this movie makes everyone have their own unique feelings when they watch it, and different life stages will also give you different revelations, so my feelings are also very fragmented and personal, but every moment of feeling is very important. I keep asking myself why do I love this movie so much? Maybe it was because it made me feel familiar, but it made me feel even more frightened. I believe that when you are frustrated in your life, this movie will definitely become your stimulant. Look at it, and believe me, it won't make you regret it!
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