Filth

[baal666]

Before the movie :

Not much to say here, it was just one of those days where i'm bored and pick a random movie to watch at night, i saw the title and remembered a few photos from when it was still in production but never heard after it, if i'm not mistaken it went straight to DVD here in France and i guess it was the same for some other countries. Starring James McAvoy, Jamie Bell and Eddie Marsan, the movie was released in late September/early October and is something i want to let people know about this movie because it was a great surprise to me.

Movie Plot :

Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson works in Edinburgh's police and member of a masonic lodge, his pleasures in life consist in excessive amount of drugs, alcohol, sex and "games" consisting in manipulating, taking advantage of and harassing people around him. To sum up, he is a complete jerk.

On the professional side of his life, Bruce is looking to gain a promotion and become Detective Inspector, he his in competition against his co-workers and the results of the investigation into the murder of a Japanese student will determine which one will be promoted.

On the personnal side of his life, Bruce has a wife and a 7 year old daughter but isn't doing well, he sees a psychiatrist for some reasons and seems to lose his sanity, having hallucinations he hides himself behind all the drug and alcohol.

My impressions :

+ James McAvoy. His performance is great, taking the viewer with him when he loses his mind.
+ Presenting the cops. In 5 minutes, Bruce makes a quick explanation of who is who with his cynical point of view is very pleasurable.
+ Bruce's way to go with his co-workers, always trying to make them feel uncomfortable and scheming plans to build tensions between all of them.
+ The end. Toward the end i was certain the movie would end in a way and to my pleasure i was damn wrong.
+ There were more things i liked but i don't want to spoil too much.

- Hallucinations. There are not a lot of them but one or two could have been removed.
- Back story. The explanation of why Bruce is seeing a psychiatrist isn't useful, the guy would have already had enough problems justificating this without adding more.

To conclude, this movie felt like a kick in the nuts ! Before watching it I thought it would be a nice littler 1h30 but it really caught me, making me laugh and then having me follow a downard spiral through Bruce's hell and the resolution of the investigation had me like "Ok, this guy is badly fucked up !" but still, the character is very likeable even though he is a jerk.
Not everyone will like this movie, finding it stupid or too much but give it a shot, you could love it.

<big><big>8/10</big></big>