Filth Movie Review

Filth (2013)

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Written by: Jon S. Baird (written by), Irvine Welsh (based on the novel by)
Directed by: Jon S. Baird
Starring: James McAvoy, Jamie Bell, Eddie Marsan, Imogen Poots, Jim Broadbent
Rated: R
Watch the trailer

Plot
A corrupt, junkie cop with bipolar disorder attempts to manipulate his way through a promotion in order to win back his wife and daughter while also fighting his own inner demons.

Verdict
This is one of those movies that you wonder, what is this? The title certainly does double duty. You could call this movie filth with how perverse Bruce (James McAvoy) is and multiple times this equates him to a pig which is interesting as he's also a cop. This isn't making a statement on cops, just the particular cop that is Bruce. He's a piece of work. There's a lot going on in this movie, and even more than we realize when it's all revealed at the end.
It depends.

Review
From the very first scene this is an odd movie. Bruce (James McAvoy) isn't very nice as his introduction to the viewer is taking a kid's balloon and letting it fly. He's needlessly cruel, and he enjoys it. He likes to mess with people by turning their lives upside down.

His drive is a promotion to chief inspector to help his strained relationship with his wife. He attempts to manipulate everyone around him to ensure he gets the job.

James McAvoy plays Bruce

On one hand, I don't know what this is. On the other, I wonder about Bruce's goal. He's an agent of chaos that seemingly wants to destroy everyone. Why? Why does he like causing trouble for everyone by embarrassing, undermining, or demeaning them? It seems like Bruce is miserable and his way of getting back at the world is to take it out on everyone else. He doesn't like people or maybe just himself.

Throughout the movie Bruce gets worse and more inebriated, spiraling throughout as his hallucinations increase. You've got to give McAvoy credit, this is quite the performance. What's really going on is even more bewildering than what I guessed. It is true that Bruce wants to make everyone miserable because he's miserable. Few movies pull everything together at the end quite like this does after being so bewildering. This generated big questions throughout as I wondered what's going on. We get answers, and the answer is not something I would have imagined.