Filth.

Its not often that a film goes on general release in Scotland before it does in the rest of the UK, at least not before Independence next September, but that’s what happened with Filth (2013) a British crime comedy-drama written and directed by Jon S Baird and based on Irvine Welsh’s third novel of the same name published in 1998. This is Baird’s second feature film after 2008’s Cass the true story of a former football hooligan who became a writer. I suppose that this new film is also about a thug but this time he is a member of the police force!

The nice policeman teaches the wee man some sign language. 

The problems associated with self loathing seems to appear in many of the movies I have watched recently and raises its psychiatric head once more in this every day story of a bigoted, corrupt and substance abusing alcoholic Edinburgh based Scottish Detective, a sort of over the top John Rebus who hates himself to such a degree that he makes nearly every body’s life a misery he comes into contact with.

Obviously part of the investigatiom!

This terrific piece of story telling is the bastard offspring of a three way cinematic shag between Clockwork Orange (1971), Abel Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant (1992) and Trainspotting (1996) and comprises some of the cream of British acting including Joanne Froggatt, Shirley Henderson, Kate Dickie, Eddie Marsan, Jim Broadbent, Martin Compston, Garry Lewis and John Sessions to name but a few. But even in this exhorted company James McAvoy stands out as the bipolar junkie, Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson who when asked by his superior why he joined the police force he replied ‘polices oppression’ ‘did you want to stamp it out from the inside?’ ‘No’ replies Robertson ‘I wanted to be part of it’ which really sums up the character.  

Now there's a man who's not always in control?

It’s a movie that will no doubt divide audiences. As Peter Bradshaw remarked in his critique it amounts to Acid Rain on Leith, but thankfully there’s not a sign of a dance routine although we do get a song from David Soul!

Welcome to the Punch

Jacob Sternwood (Mark Strong) is an ex bank robber who cripples Detective Max Lewinsky (James McAvoy) in a shot out following a robbery. Sternwood retires to Iceland but three years later he is forced back to London after receiving a phone call from his estranged son who has been involved in a robbery that has gone wrong where one man has been killed and Ruan Sternwood has received a stomach wound.  When Lewinsky hears that his old adversary is back in the capital he becomes obsessed with catching and arresting the master criminal. The strength of the hatred the detective has for Jacob is due to a psychological scar left by the belief that his career and his life has been ruined by the shooting incident that took place three years ago. Assisted by his partner Sarah Hawks (Andrea Riseborough) he sets out on a pursuit that will go far deeper than a simple matter of cops and robbers.

What no Bankers?

This British thriller/crime drama has been written and directed by Eran Creevy whose promising debut film Shifty (2008) was very well received. Creevy admits that Welcome to the Punch (2012) is, as they say, something completely different. It’s sets out to be a cool, slick action drama set in London that attempts to ape not only Hong Kong action cinema but also movies like Heat and The Departed. It has a superb supporting cast including Peter Mullan, Johnny Harris, Daniel Mays, David Morrissey, and Jason Flemyng, unfortunately most of whom are under used.

Another cup of tea son!

It took Creevy two years to write the story, which at times is a little far fetched but the set pieces are very well done especially the opening car chase through Canary Wharf. London’s chrome and steel has never looked quite so polished, thanks to the smart cinematography by DOP Ed Wild. But a superficial film that shows the overindulgence of its executive producer Ridley Scott and would of benefited from a little more grittiness. It was also a mistake to downsize a large amount of the back-story of our two main characters that leaves the narrative a little shallow. Creevy skill as a director does shine through at times with his best scene being the segment that takes place in Dean Warns grandma’s front room with a stand off between Warns (Harris) and Jacob, Max and Roy Edwards (Peter Mullan) that ends with a great slow motion gun battle.  Essentially a good B-movie masquerading as a main feature. 

Trance.

Danny Boyle is certainly a man of principal. When he won awards and plaudits for Slumdog Millionaire (2008) he resisted a call to work in America and then he turned down a gong offered to him after masterminding the opening ceremony of the Olympic games that took place last year in East London.

The Auctioneer.

 On leaving the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre following a screening of Trance (2013) I was asked if I liked the film and my answer was that I didn’t know? Its convoluted story was something I would have to think about, all I could say was that it took along time to get where it was going! In a recent interview the director said ‘all the dark stuff that we could not put in the Olympics has ended up here’[1]

 

The Gangster.

It’s the sort of film where the less you know about the plot, the more chance you have of enjoying it. Set in modern day London, Simon an art auctioneer colludes with a gangster Franck, in the theft of a painting by Goya only to develop amnesia after hiding the work of art. His only hope of retrieving his memory and hence the painting, is to engage a hypnotherapist Dr Elizabeth Lamb. The real subject of this psychological thriller is not finding the painting but recovering the stolen memories that Elizabeth Lamb finds in Simons subconscious. Actually most of the films action seems to take place in people’s heads, and it’s left to the audience to decide if what we see is really happening.

 

The Hypnotherapist.

This twist-laden story, described by Boyle as a cruel film, is inspired by Nicolas Roeg and brings to mind Christopher Nolan’s Inception (2010). It was based on a little known 2001 British television film of the same name. The three central characters are played by, James McAvoy (Simon) who also narrates the story, French actor Vincent Cassel plays the brutal Franck and Rosario Dawson plays the sexy American femme fatale Elizabeth Lamb. So have I made my mind up if I like the film? Well I’m afraid the answer is locked up in my subconscious so you’ll just have to see the film and make your own mind up!  

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[1] Interview Sight &Sound April 2013.