Filth - 28 clockwork trainspotters

As the title ‘Filth,’ suggests, this film is about the police in Britain (or Scotland to be precise). However, perhaps the main thing you should know about it before you choose to watch it, is that it’s written by Trainspotting’s Irvine Welsh. So, if you enjoyed Trainspotting then you’ll probably appreciate this.

James McAvoy plays a (hopefully not average) police officer who lies, cheats, steals, takes drugs and is generally an unpleasant person (think ‘Renton’ from Trainspotting, but with a badge). And we join him as he tries to scheme his way to a promotion by framing all those colleagues he perceives as a threat. And he does a great job of basically carrying the film single-handedly. Some people have even said his performance is worthy of an Oscar. I’m not sure it was that great, but it’s still pretty good anyway.

It’s quite a mess of a film, but seemingly all the better for it. Because of the ‘drug-taking’ aspect and the hallucinations caused by such pursuits, there are many weird, wonderful and not particularly linier scenes thrown into the mix, all of which contribute to the madness our central anti-hero is suffering.

And, of course, ‘Filth’ is – as the name indicates – pretty damn filthy, specialising in a particularly adult form of black comedy and drama. Expect much sex and debauchery at every turn. If you combined Renton from Trainspotting and Alex from a Clockwork Orange, then put them in a film which was a combination of the two and set it to the background score from 28 Days Later, then you’ll get ‘Filth.’ If you like the sound of that sort of thing then give Filth a go.

8/10 The Force is definitely strong with this one