Trainspotting (1996) Director: Danny Boyle Starring: Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Kelly Macdonald
Drugs are bad, kids. We all know that. But from them great things can come. With a story of bored wasters frittering away their lives on heroin and shooting dogs in the park, Danny Boyle created the greatest youth film of the decade. Everything falls perfectly into place: a script of both bizarre fantasy and unflinching realism; a director with original ideas leaking from every pore; a cast all caught on the verge of great things; a soundtrack that would plug teenage CD players for at least a year; and even a poster campaign that proved the greatest cover for damp student walls since that tennis player hoiked up her skirt.
Do The Right Thing (1987) Director: Spike Lee Starring: Spike Lee, Danny Aiello, Giancarlo Esposito, John Turturro, Rosie Perez
Set during one long, incendiary summer summer night in a Brooklyn neighbourhood, Spike Lee's molotov cocktail of rap, race and pizza is explosive as 18 movies get. Kickstarted by Public Enemy's block-rockin' Fight The Power, Do The Right Thing portrays a community at war as an argument between Danny Aiello's pizzeria owner and his young black customers escalates into flashpoints of unforgettable violence. There is swearing - the straight to camera racist abuse is powerful - there is sex (Spike Lee, as pizza delivery boy Mookie gets it on with Rosie Perez in a sultry sesh) but this delivers on its 18 certificate through its ability to confront controversial issues head on.
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