13. A Life Less Ordinary (1997)
As the title of Danny Boyle’s third feature might imply, it is not an ‘ordinary’ film by any means, but, in fact, a ‘less [than] ordinary’ one, and considerably so. Undoubtedly the weakest film he has so far delivered, A Life Less Ordinary is a story of two angels sent to earth on a mission to recover a failing love affair, with explosive results. Tedious and overly contrived.
12. The Beach (2000)
Now almost pastiche for ‘gap-year’ adventures, Boyle’s adaptation of Alex Garland’s seminal novel is as intriguing as it is infuriating, a westerner’s experience of Asia for the modern times. Solid performances steady what is, for the most part, a muddled and self-conscious attempt at provocation. Leonardo DiCaprio is great, though.
11. Trance (2013)
Trance is undeniably entertaining – glitzy, dazzling, mind-spinning work – only, and regrettably, too intelligent for its own good. The retrieval of a misplaced Goya painting, by way of hypnotherapy, plays into the central conceit; it is here that some of the film’s most curious scenes develop, James McAvoy driving or walking along imagined roads, seeking, in the depths of his troubled subconscious, to grasp the clue to the painting’s location. Peppered with technicolour radiance and brutal, macho violence, Boyle’s ingredients merge into a gloopy soup of incoherence.
10. Millions (2004)
A suitcase filled with £265,000 drops from the sky in yet another “what if?” movie, only now looking to the traditional, family fable as its premise. Imaginative and warm-hearted, this entirely unpretentious film is worth revisiting.
9. Yesterday (2019)
Joyous characters and storytelling sustain a hokey, starry-eyed movie that just about manages to get away with loose threads and naïve logic. Boyle directs a Richard Curtis-penned script with typical zeal and enthusiasm – kinetic sequences appear aglow with their own euphoric glee – following the life of singer-songwriter Jack Malick, who finds fame and success after discovering he is the only person on earth (or so he thinks …) that remembers the Beatles and their music. I couldn’t help but feel that any band could have substituted into this narrative, but it works, nevertheless, as reminder of our shared, cultural heritage. Impossible not to smile through, even with a little help from its jukebox anthems.
8. Steve Jobs (2015)
I watched Steve Jobs on an aeroplane a few years ago, and loved it from start to finish. I admittedly came to it late, having missed its release in cinemas. Boyle directs a gargantuan script from Aaron Sorkin (Moneyball, The Social Network) with confidence and flair – tracking the Apple-megalomaniac’s career across a triad of product opening nights – with Michael Fassbender, Seth Rogan and Kate Winslet (who is particularly good) starring. A highly unusual biopic, but just a big saggy.
7. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Loosely adapted from the novel Q & A by Indian author Vikas Swarup, Slumdog Millionaire marks another feel-good picture in his career, as well as a sleeper hit financially. Acclaimed in almost every category, the film was nominated for ten Academy awards, winning 8 – best director for Boyle, of course – despite controversies circulating around its portrayal of Indian society and treatment of young actors. I spent many years having only seen 100 minutes of its 120-minute runtime, despite it being a film of breathless, imaginative thrill.
6. T2 Trainspotting (2017)
A long-awaited sequel to 1996’s Trainspotting, T2 continues twenty years after the events of the original, a sense of lateness conveyed in the age, damage and floundering of its heroin-marred characters. I had to watch this twice to properly enjoy it, and once I had, it struck me as one of the most inventive and emotional films of the year. A feast of nostalgia, with enough freshness to keep it buoyed afloat, T2 is a worthy companion to its timeless original.
5. 127 Hours (2010)
One of a few Danny Boyle films that I have watched four-or-five times, with numerous people, and still experience the same goose-bump excitement with each viewing. Produced in the wake of his Oscar-success, 127 Hours is a passion project about canyoneer Aron Ralston, who, after getting trapped by a boulder in an isolated slot canyon in Blue John Canyon, Utah, is forced to take extreme measures. Intimate as it is horrifying, the film descends into a type of dream diary – Ralston (played by James Franco) imagines being on a reality television show, debating with himself as to how he ended up between a rock and a hard place. Golden filmmaking.
4. Shallow Grave (1994)
The directorial debut of Danny Boyle – starring Kerry Fox, Christopher Eccleston, and Ewan McGregor, also in his first role – draws inspiration from early Coen-brothers’ work, whilst also, and more importantly, standing on its own feet as a cinematic accomplishment. In a year of successful, cult movies, Shallow Grave still resonates today. It is an extraordinary and macabre study of how people deal with terrible situations and the terrible consequences that can unfold out of it. A small, rough-cut gem.
3. 28 Days Later … (2002)
Society collapses under the weight of a zombie apocalypse, Jim (Cillian Murphy) awaking in a hospital, alone – preserved from the outside in mirror-image of John Wyndham’s Day of the Triffids – and left to wander an abandoned London, still, with the exception of “missing poster” flutters and drifting money. 28 Days Later … draws from, and ultimately exceeds, its ‘zombie-genre’ inspirations, engaging ideas of family and love within its digital-grain landscape. Featuring an unforgettable score from John Murphy (also the collaborator for Sunshine), as well as an ending unlike any other, it has bloomed into one of my favourite films of the 00’s. Meditative, gritty and terrifying.
2. Sunshine (2007)
Seated at a distance from Bladerunner, Planet of the Apes, and maybe glimpsed on the horizon of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Sunshine is a story about one presence in space little noticed, or reflected upon by the medium, that of our sun (in this case, whose light is dying). Set in 2057, the film charts the expedition of an international crew aboard Icarus II, contracted with reigniting this solar body. En route, the original ship is discovered, since transformed into a kind of interstellar quasi-church for the evangelical Pinbacker, the devil of the outer heavens. Theology and science intersect in this zero-gravity environment – fantastically rendered by computer graphic imagery – in what looks to be a reflection on the human condition, our relation to a greater body that is ultimately beyond ourselves. Not dissimilar to 28 Days Later …, Sunshine holds a very nostalgic place in my heart. It’s concluding line is similarly engrained: “So if you wake up one morning, and it’s a particularly beautiful day, you’ll know we made it … okay, I’m signing out.’
1. Trainspotting (1996)
Edinburgh is a heroin-nest of small tragedies in Danny Boyle’s supercharged film, adapted from Irvine Welsh’s novel of the same name. Taking drugs is a preoccupation that, like participants of ‘trainspotting’ itself, makes absolute and perfect sense, but to onlookers appears somewhat pointless. It is such a rationale that inspires the cadence of Boyle’s film, a sequence of peaks and troughs, highs and lows that navigate opportunities, failures and descents into the abyss of squalor. Trainspotting, with its bedrock of pop-culture music, Scottish landmarks and youth subculture, channels a spirit of life exempt of glory or glamour, a portrait of the world ricocheting between living and dying. One of the most singular and unsettling British films ever directed, perhaps my favourite.
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