The Acid House

As the screenplay for The Acid House was written by Irvine Welsh, film will inevitably be compared with Trainspotting (Danny Boyle, 1996). In any case, they share a surrealistic inventiveness and Scotland looks more colourful than usual.The Acid House is an urban fairy-tale in three parts. The first part, entitled ‘The Granton Star Cause’, is a black comedy about revenge, soccer and religion. The world falls away from under the fairly conceited Bob Coyle in a short time: he is kicked out of his soccer team, his father wants him to live on his own for once and his girfriend ends their relationship. A man in a bar introduces himself as God: in this case a punishing Old-Testament God who changes Bob into a fly ‘for wasting his life’. The second story, ‘A Soft Touch’, is a satirical social sketch: softie Johnny marries very pregnant Catriona, even though it is highly unlikely that hewas the father. While he looks after the baby, his wife is soon out painting the town. Part three, ‘The Acid House’, is comic and surreal: Coco loves raves and the pills that go with them. On the other side of town, a woman is about to have a baby. During his trip that is a little too stormy, Coco’s consciousness is switched to the new-born baby and vice versa.