Filth

****
UK Release Date: October 4th 2013

A corrupt cop manipulates and hallucinates his way through a bid to secure a promotion and win back his wife and daughter.

Director: Jon S. Baird

Starring: James McAvoy, Jamie Bell, Jim Broadbent, Eddie Marsan, Imogen Poots

James McAvoy has been a very busy man lately. From Welcome to the Punch and Trance to X-Men: Days of Future Past, there's nothing he can't do. He fits in to his roles perfectly, and owns them just as much. He's a key player in Filth, dominating every scene.

Filth is based on a novel of the same name by the critically acclaimed author Irvine Welsh. If you're familiar with Trainspotting then you know what you're in for with this film.

Filth is like a dirty party, one that Detective Bruce Robinson (McAvoy) swaggers his way through. Drugs and alcohol are his forte, whilst his job is secondary to them. Fuelled by his lust to stay high and hit on every woman he comes across, Bruce will do anything to get what he wants, and that's a promotion and his family back. Among his inner demons is Bruce's true self. He goes about things the wrong way, even if his intentions are true.

Twisted and dark this film is. You can't help but laugh your way through it, no matter how gruesome or messed up it is. Baird's second feature length is full of eccentric characters, including Jamie Bell's Lennox, another detective who Bruce faces competition against for the promotion. Lennox has one small problem, one that he wishes no one found out about. There's also Bruce's psychologist Dr. Rossi (Broadbent) who pops up in Bruce's hallucinations  and Bruce's 'so called' best friend Bladesey (Marsan), a boring accountant whose wife keeps getting indecent calls from someone unknown.

James McAvoy and Filth's supporting cast are absolutely superb. It's a bittersweet viewing that's funny and sick at the same time. You have to experience it to believe it. McAvoy's best performance since The Last King of Scotland.