Top Picks: Danny Boyle’s Greatest Films

We begin this retrospective with Boyle's sophomore film, Trainspotting. Set in Edinburgh, it follows a group of friends as they fall in and out of sobriety. Though Trainspotting contains heavy themes, its vivacity and punk spirit differentiate the film from bleaker brethren like Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream. By the end, Trainspotting's characters feel like friends you've known your whole life. Can't get enough? Check out Irvine Welsh's original book or the 2017 sequel film. 

Speaking of sequels, in 2002 Boyle applied his cinematic flair to the zombie genre in 28 Days Later, the first of a multi-film series. Zombies were historically depicted as slow-moving, reanimated corpses. Here, Boyle reimagines them as frightfully fast humans who have become zombified by a virus. This blood and gore horror explores societal collapse, challenging viewers to reconsider what makes something (or someone) a monster. Sequels include 28 Weeks Later, 28 Years Later, and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. (Though Boyle assisted with all sequels, he is only credited as the director of 28 Years Later). 

Of course we can't discuss Boyle's filmography without Slumdog Millionaire, his Oscar-winning film based on the novel Q & A by Vikas Swarup. Hoping to reconnect with his childhood crush, Jamal competes on the Hindi version of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. When he surprisingly sails through each question, the producers accuse him of cheating. So to prove his innocence, Jamal recounts his life growing up in Mumbai's slums, revealing that each answer correlates with an episode of his past. Is it coincidence or destiny? Music lovers will appreciate A.R. Rahman's eclectic score, and screenwriters can even check out the shooting script! 

Two years later, Boyle received double Oscar nominations for 127 Hours. This film adapts Aron Ralston's memoir Between a Rock and a Hard Place, about the time his arm became trapped by a boulder while solo-hiking in Utah. Though his body is but a miniscule speck amid the vastness of Bluejohn Canyon, Ralston finds solace reflecting on the small moments of his life and refuses to give up without a fight. A beautiful and intense survival story about confronting mortality, 127 Hours viscerally conveys the claustrophobia of Ralston's predicament without feeling creatively stuck in one place.  

Can you guess what Boyle's Steve Jobs is about? Yup, that's right! This biopic tells the story of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs during the 1984-1998 time period. Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing, The Social Network) penned the script, which stars Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet (both Oscar nominated for their performances). As with any biopic, there are always conflicting takes about accuracy. Neither documentary nor fabulation, this is an interpretive exploration about the early career of a mythologized man, based on the book by Walter Isaacson. 

Are there any other films (or particular scenes) from Danny Boyle's oeuvre that stay with you? Share below!