We are very pleased to bring you the new trailer courtesy of Kaleidoscope Entertainment for the upcoming Irvine Welsh: Reality Is Not Enough.
Following its World Premiere on the Closing Night of the Edinburgh International Film Festival on 20th August, the definitive documentary on the Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh will hit UK cinemas from 26th September.
From award-winning documentary filmmaker Paul Sng (Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché, Tish), Irvine Welsh: Reality Is Not Enough is an illuminating documentary offering a rare glimpse into the mind of a prolific artist at work and play.
Irvine Welsh is at a crossroads. After experiencing the huge success of several film adaptations and six million books sold worldwide, he has become acutely aware of his own mortality. Now, with his hedonistic days drawing to a close, the outspoken author decides to explore the boundaries of consciousness through a psychedelic DMT trip.
Through this unique lens, join Welsh on a brutally honest examination of his life: how his creativity was fostered by his childhood in Edinburgh; the influences he gained living amongst 70’s London counterculture; and how groundbreaking work such as Trainspotting and Filth pulled him out of a self-destructive cycle, but also led him to heights of fame he never could have imagined. And still one burning question remains – what will come next?
This captivating piece of autobiographical filmmaking combines intimate observational footage with readings from his novels narrated by Liam Neeson (Taken, Batman Begins, Star Wars), Maxine Peake (The Theory of Everything, Shameless), musician Nick Cave, Ruth Negga (Ad Astra, Passing) and Stephen Graham (Adolescence, The Irishman).
“Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting is an era-defining novel. I read it for the first time in March 1996, immediately after watching Danny Boyle’s remarkable film version. These combined experiences changed my life. I was living in London and had zero interest in heroin. But I related strongly to these rebellious and hedonistic outcasts from Thatcher’s Britain and its New Labour ‘Cool Britannia’ remix. It articulated the urgency of youth and how it feels to be an outsider to society. I felt seen.
25 years later, now living in Edinburgh, I went to see Todd Haynes’ The Velvet Underground, along with Irvine. Afterwards, I asked him if he’d ever make a documentary about his maverick life. Already I could see a film where we would delve beyond his outspoken and hedonistic public persona, speaking truth to power. I wanted to show the thoughtful polymath and loving husband, who took inspiration from Evelyn Waugh and acid house music and believes “we only learn through failure”. Reality Is Not Enough is that film.
This is a documentary about a writer reflecting on his life for the first time. Soren Kierkegaard’s idea “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards” has formed a creative mantra for the film. Irvine’s DMT trip is our way into his personal reflections on mortality, place & belonging, hedonism, class & politics, creativity, love & family.
Observational footage of his daily life and excerpts from his body of work are interwoven with ‘memory space’ material – shot in a post-industrial warehouse close to where he grew up. Within this darkened inner sanctum of uneven walls, Irvine (literally) roams through his memories, viscerally experiencing a collision of image and language, as he provides intimate commentary on his life, work and the key moments that have opened his heart and soul.”
– Paul Sng, Director
Irvine Welsh: Reality Is Not Enough is in UK Cinemas on 26th September courtesy of Kaleidoscope Entertainment.
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
