Review of Filth (2013) by Robert H — 25 May 2014

Despite some inconsistent tone, FILTH is a darkly comic film about a despicable cop's descent into madness. The story follows Bruce Robertson, a Scottish cop who is up for a promotion, and in charge of a murder investigation.

However, those two details are merely springboards for what the movie is really about, that is, his impossibly filthy lifestyle and how he pushes himself to his breaking point. As played by James McAvoy, he is largely unsympathetic although he does have a twisted sense of humor.

Other than possibly feeling sorry for him (which is a stretch), the only thing audiences will have to connect with is the promise of being reunited with family, which is what he hopes to achieve with the promotion.

However, in the end, even that proves illusory. There is a seriously dark undercurrent to this whole movie, but there is a lot of dark humor to soften what otherwise would be an oppressively dark portrait of a man on the edge.

Even still, these are the kind of movies that I love. It's not perfect, due to some jarring attempts at sentimentality, but this is largely a bravura effort with an incredible performance by James McAvoy, and based on a book by the author of TRAINSPOTTING (which tackles similar thematic material).

Despite not being for everybody, this is a well-made film that is captivating and deserves to be seen by anybody willing to give it a chance.