November 28th on Netflix. Based on the book by Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting, James McAvoy is Edinburgh Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson. To put it mildly, Robertson is a d*ck. He isa coke sniffing, alcoholic, evil misogynistic goon. Robertson is part of a squad of detectives that are up for promotion for the soon to be vacant Detective Inspector position. Robertson sees himself as the only viable candidate (which he probably is) and he will do anything to stack the odds in his favor. He needs to promotion to please his wife for some reason.
He gets tasked with investigating the brutal murder of a Japanese student. While he investigates the murder, he has an affair with a colleague's wife, insinuates that a fellow detective is gay, belittles a fellow detective and befriends a wealth lodge member only to steal money from him and make prank phone calls to his wife. He's a real piece of work. He's also got serious mental issues and probably has a bipolar disorder. We eventually learn that he was responsible for the death of his brother when they were kids. As the film goes on, his descent into madness speeds up.
While running down suspects in the murder he finds out that there was a witness to the crime (the murder takes place in the beginning of the film and the witness appears to be an attractive blonde woman who may or may not be a prostitute) but Robertson always seems to get sidetracked and is unable to follow through. Despite being a sh*theel, Robertson reluctantly helps a heart attack victim only to have him die while administering CPR. The wife of the man thanks him for helping when no one else would. This is the one selfless act he commits in the entire film. Everything he does is to put himself in the best position to get the promotion. Since most of his time is devoted to the theory of better living by chemicals, he hallucinates. The hallucinations get worse and worse over time.
Robertson gets so consumed with sabotaging everyone else's chances at the promotion, his police work suffers (the drinking and the drugs don't help either). He gets a particular bad hallucination with his psychiatrist (Jim Broadbent) its revealed that his wife in fact left him for another man and he has no access to his daughter. He's also started dressing like his wife in order to be closer to her (yeah, it was Robertson that witnessed the murder and that's why he never chased down the lead). When he runs into the the gang leader who killed the student he recognizes Robertson and beats him up (while in drag). He's about to kill him when Robertson throws him out the window. Now the cat is out of the bag and the promotion is out of the question. In fact he's been demoted to walking a beat.
Everything comes out, he was the one prank calling the wife of the wealthy lodge member (he bangs the wife too) and his affair with a colleague's wife leads to the suicide of the colleague. In act of redemption, he videotapes his confession of the prank calling and sends it to his friend (who eventually used the advice Robertson gives him and puts a spark back in his marriage). The film ends with Robertson committing suicide.
This film reminded me a lot of Trainspotting for obvious reasons. Robertson is a despicable character who few redeeming qualities. I felt that having him dress up as his wife and prostituting himself was a bit strange but I never read the book and maybe that was important. The film was directed by John S, Baird, who has only directed 2 feature films since 2008. It would be easy for people not to like this film because Robertson is so hate-able and you're rooting against him or at least hoping that he doesn't get the promotion. This ins't a film for everyone but I thought it was interesting. It was grimy, very dark and it tried to be humorous at times. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. Filth topped the box office in Scotland it's opening week but saw a very sparse release in the U.S. McAvoy does a very nice job as Robertson. He really did a great job of being unlikable. There was solid supporting roles turned in by Broadbent, Jamie Bell, Imogen Poots, Gary Lewis and Eddie Marsan. I would be interested to see the next film from Baird. I thought the film was interesting but it's not for everyone.
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