A Candid Portrait That Thrives on Welsh’s Voice

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MOVIE REVIEW
Beyond Trainspotting: The World Of Irvine Welsh (Choose Irvine Welsh.)
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Genre: Documentary, Biography
Year Released: 2023, 2025
Runtime: 1h 27m
Director(s): Ray Burdis, Ian Jefferies
Where to Watch: DVD available now, streaming available September 16, 2025. Order your copy here: www.cleorecs.com, www.mvdshop.com, or www.amazon.com

RAVING REVIEW: BEYOND TRAINSPOTTING – THE WORLD OF IRVINE WELSH promises to take viewers further than the title that defined a generation, but what it ultimately delivers is a lively, sometimes messy documentary that never quite decides what it wants to be. Directed by Ray Burdis and Ian Jefferies, it assembles an impressive lineup of contributors—from rock icons like Iggy Pop and Bobby Gillespie to longtime collaborators like Danny Boyle and Ewan McGregor—yet the strongest presence throughout is Irvine Welsh himself. His voice, his wit, and his honesty remain the film’s greatest strengths, even when the documentary around him struggles.

The film begins with Welsh reflecting on his roots, born in a Leith, Edinburgh tenement in 1958 and shaped by the working-class environment that would later permeate his stories. His recollections of school, where one teacher told him that his spelling and grammar were awful but that he “could tell a story,” set the stage for a career built on raw, honest, and brutal truth. These moments carry a charge of authenticity, grounding the film in a human story rather than just a film's legacy. Unfortunately, the documentary often skims over these chapters too quickly, as if anxious to move on to the more marketable terrain of ‘Trainspotting.’

And that’s where the imbalance becomes most obvious. While the title suggests a broader examination of Welsh’s literary career—novels such as ‘Filth,’ ‘Crime,’ and ‘The Acid House’ all adapted for the screen—the documentary leans heavily, almost obsessively, on the original ‘Trainspotting’ and its Danny Boyle film adaptations. Roughly half of the runtime is spent on this territory, featuring older interviews and celebratory soundbites that feel more like promotional material than a serious documentary exploration.

Where the film does come alive is in Welsh’s narration. His storytelling spark hasn’t dulled, and he recounts tales of personal highs and lows with brutal honesty. He speaks of nearly fatal experiences, brushes with addiction, and an infamous night spent high on ecstasy during a pub quiz rather than attending a TRAINSPOTTING screening with David Bowie. In one of the more poignant recollections, he discusses a 1982 bus crash involving Hibernian football fans. This unexpected turning point provided him with financial stability and ultimately contributed to his return to writing. These moments dig into the lived experiences behind the author, reminding viewers why Welsh remains such a strong personality.

Boyle and McGregor offer affectionate reflections on how Welsh’s work impacted their careers, and Alan McGee of Creation Records situates Welsh within the broader cultural movement of the 1990s. Iggy Pop appears, though his presence feels more symbolic of Welsh’s countercultural appeal than revealing in substance.

Welsh himself anchors the film. His charisma, his humor, and his unapologetic self-awareness make him a natural narrator of his own story. One of his sharpest observations—“you learn nothing from success; it just makes you a worse person”—cuts through the celebratory tone with the kind of honesty most documentaries could use more of. These moments elevate the film, making even its shortcomings worth enduring for fans eager to hear from Welsh directly.

For all its flaws, BEYOND TRAINSPOTTING has undeniable energy. It feels like a party thrown in Welsh’s honor, with a room full of friends and admirers eager to raise a glass to his impact. That celebratory mood makes it an enjoyable watch for those already invested in Welsh’s persona or the ‘Trainspotting’ phenomenon. But the lack of structural discipline and the narrow focus on familiar territory mean it never reaches the heights it might have if it had taken its subject’s full career as seriously as its most famous chapter.

The best documentaries about writers strike a balance between personality and text, allowing the words themselves to shine as much as the anecdotes. This film doesn’t quite find that balance. It revels in Welsh’s larger-than-life persona and the mythology around ‘Trainspotting,’ but when it comes to mapping his influence across decades of literature, it feels cursory.

Welsh deserved a sharper, more structured exploration of his life and career, one that might have given equal weight to his lesser-discussed works and the cultural critiques embedded in them. What we get instead is an affectionate but uneven celebration. For casual fans and lovers of ‘Trainspotting,’ that may be enough. For anyone hoping for the definitive Irvine Welsh documentary, this is only the first draft.

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[photo courtesy of CLEOPATRA ENTERTAINMENT, MVD ENTERTAINMENT]

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