Couldn't agree more, and I'm normally quite partial to the morally bankrupt and depraved in film. This should have been left as a one off drama on Channel Four or BBC3.
Great response. I've just watched it, it's magnificent. The closing credits alone are worth the price of admission - or in my case, the place on the couch.
agreed. surprisingly bad and i usually like these actors. this movie tried too hard to be trainspotting. while watching it, i was imagining all of the brain dead idiots munching on their cheetos and drinking their beer thinking this was edgy. i couldn't even finish it.
"Brain dead idiots". Imbecile. You're talking about a good deal of film critics who nominated Filth for best film and McAvoy for best actor at the London Critics' Circle Awards.
agreed. surprisingly bad and i usually like these actors. this movie tried too hard to be trainspotting. while watching it, i was imagining all of the brain dead idiots munching on their cheetos and drinking their beer thinking this was edgy. i couldn't even finish it.
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Thank you. You wrote my mind on this one. I had enough after 18 minutes or something. Embarrassing.
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See. This is where I have a problem with some of these comments. Don't like a movie enough to stop watching it so soon? Fine. You should understand, though, that by not taking the time to watch the entire thing, your opinion of the movie has no value. You only took a sip of it. Now, that sip may be enough for your pallet to decide it's no good, but the rest of us can't use your sip as a reason to avoid the movie. Had you drank it all in, then we might be able to take your thoughts into account. How do you even know it isn't a good movie? You only saw 18 minutes?! You say the movie is embarrassing. If I were you, I'd find commenting on the movie after only 18 minutes embarrassing. Really. You shouldn't have even made the effort to post here.
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what a stupid thing to say. i can tell a film is absolute junk, like this one, before 18 minutes. people are so dim nowadays that they think that any trash has merit. its awful.
what a stupid thing to say. i can tell a film is absolute junk, like this one, before 18 minutes.
No, what you said above is a stupid thing to say, because the truth is, it everybody only watched the first 18 minutes of a film then cut it off before even giving it a chance, hell, nobody would watch any movies, period. FILTH is nasty and disgusting in some parts, but the whacked-out humor is what keeps it afloat, and while the main character is all kinds of fcked-up in so many ways, it was still fun to watch, and one crazy-as-hell wild ride to go on.
I love this statement, and I completely agree, for example I watched the first 20mins of a tale of two sisters and thought it was utter crap, then I watched the rest after scalded by a fan, now I think it is one of the best contemporary horror films ever
To each their own, I think Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is great film and Filth is an extremely good film. Not just teens love the film, it gets a 7.1 here on IMDB so more than just teens love the film, plus I believe it is too intelligent for most teens to like it. Now, of course the rating system on IMDB is incredibly flawed but that's not to say a decent amount of people of all ages enjoy the film.
"this film is perhaps the worst of 2013" Wow, in a year with so much junk like Getaway, Movie 43, Texas Chainsaw 3D, Identity Thief, A Good Day to Die Hard, R.I.P.D., and Scary Movie 5, Filth is the worst of all. By the way, I did not mean to insult anyone who disliked the film because to each their own. I thought it was an intelligently written dark comedy.
Comedy seems to be the most subjective genre of all films, whatever makes someone laugh makes someone laugh. I have not seen Filth again since my post, I do plan on watching that in the future again. I hope you don't mind but I did take a look at our ratings compared and some of your lists and we certainly have different taste in film. I loved Fury, Argo, Shaun of the Dead, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, etc. I hated The Thing (2011) and Alien 3 which you gave positive marks to so we just have different taste that's all.
Your dislike of the film is fair enough. The filmmakers knew full well what they were getting into when they were making it. They are likely prepared for people to love it, hate to love it or vice versa of the two. You're going to get vice versa whether you like it or not, and not just for a risky film like this. However, would you care to be a little more constructive in your criticism? The film is actually trying to communicate something deep here and if it's failed to reach you, fine, but at least give it that much credit for trying and give more in-depth reasons to justify all the straight-up negative terms you used, moreso since your so-called critique seems more focused on the technical aspects of the film rather than the storytelling itself.
To be honest, I've read harsher reviews than yours that sound a lot more justified as the reviewers at least seemed to think the film deserves a more in-depth look as to why they feel it's so offensive to them personally. Which is actually a score in favor to the film, since it's designed to evoke extreme reactions.
As it is, your remarks make you sound like a hater who hates for the sake of hating, but I get the feeling that you're really not. Because if I didn't, I wouldn't have bothered with this. Consider this an in-depth review of your review, and it is a courtesy on my part. Shame you didn't afford Filth the same treatment, even though it deserves that much at least.
P/s: If you go to a mental hospital and witness patients act up, or have a friend or family who's suffering from some sort of mental disorder and who is having a rather frightful episode, would you just snort and say, "I know these people are nutso but geez, they should really put a lid on it?"
"The film is actually trying to communicate something deep here..."
Could you enlighten me as to what that was? I spent an hour and a half with a character that showed absolutely no redeeming characteristics and he was a terrible cop to boot. What is the point of such a film?
Hey there. So happy you asked that. I came across a review not too long ago that mirrors my thoughts almost exactly but couldn't have worded any better myself so rather than typing up a storm clumsily trying to explain, I'll give you the link to this particular review instead (which out of the many good and bad reviews of the film I've read, is the only one I saved because it resonated so well with me). It's a positive review, obviously, and you may disagree with the writer's praises for the film. I do think the film could have benefited more if certain different decisions in terms of technical approach had been made--like the cinematography could stand to be seedier to match the deteriorating state of Bruce's mind, which may then perhaps resonate with the audience better--but treatment of story and script-wise, I've got no complaints. What I'd like you to focus on is what the writer has hashed out as the meaning and consequently, point behind the film, so that you may perhaps see what Filth, as a movie, is trying to achieve. Here it is:
I read the review and, I suppose, the reviewer has his or her points. The truth is I just did not like the character of Bruce and found it extremely unpleasant to spend an hour and a half with him. I would not say it is a bad film, but it is certainly one that I have no desire to watch again.
By the way, I thought that Trainspotting was the best film of the 90's, the entire decade.
And that's perfectly fine. I like the way that you said you don't like the character of Bruce instead of just glibly condemning the film. It proves you've given it a proper chance at least by trying to find out what the point of it all is. I can respect that. A negative emotion evoked after processing what you've seen is better than one that came about when really, you just couldn't be bothered to look deeper and opt to judge at face value. Don't get me wrong, I myself am guilty of not wanting to put in effort to process a movie because the movie doesn't make me want to, and doubtless, Filth is that way for some people, but I've never spouted off negative opinions on it because I knew I didn't grasp it enough to give it fair judgment. Times like that I just go, "It's probably very interesting to some but it ain't for me" and leave it at that. So I think it's good that you dislike Bruce as much as you do after sitting through 90 minutes with him. The movie's done its job.
Truth be told, I'm not a fan of Bruce either but I felt bad for him at the end. And then I felt bad for feeling bad. It's not that I think he deserves death or anything like that, but this is probably the only way a man so far down the rabbit hole like he is can find peace. He's making life miserable not just for himself but for everyone around him so it's probably just as well that he does himself and everyone a favor and remove himself from everyone's lives. And I feel really bad for thinking like that but I do think it, about the character of Bruce at least. It's a very conflicted sort of feeling and I guess that's the magic of Filth--the movie version--for me. I feel no such sympathy for the one depicted in the book because even his death was intended to spite like everything else he did in life.
I like Trainspotting, too. I find it a completely different vehicle from Filth and enjoy them both as completely separate pieces of works, tied by nothing but having been authored by the same person and the directors drawing technical inspiration from the same sources (not all, just some, I think).
Can you explain something to me? The initial attack and murder of the Oriental student was stopped by the appearance of Bruce's wife. Was that fantasy or did that happen? Then, at the end Bruce dresses in drag, the same clothes his wife wore in the first scene. Why? Where did Bruce get those clothes? How did he know what clothes to wear? Was this homophobe actually a guy who liked to dress in drag? Totally confused about that turn of events unless it was Bruce, dressed in drag, who witnessed the murder. This would explain alot of things, his homophobia and the fact that he knew who murdered the student despite doing absolutely no detective work at all. And who was that other blonde woman with the kid? Did I miss something?
Haha I think our thread of conversation deserves to be on its very own thread instead of being chucked under a thread with a subject that's derogatory to the film, since it's turning into a largely healthy discussion and people who like the film and are avoiding this thread should see it (and maybe participate). I'll answer your questions as best as I can, although some would be my interpretation rather than fact, in a new thread just as soon as I find the time to. Need to rush something now. I'll talk to you later, and that's a promise.
I thought he dressed up in drag, because his mind was so far gone. He was clinging to get his wife back. That in his mind, he believed dressing up as her, keeps her close to him.
The other blonde women was the wife of the man he tried to save with CPR.
Yes, but didn't you find it interesting that he chose the same clothes his wife wore when she witnessed the murder? How about this? Among Bruce's many "problems", both real and imagined, is his cross-dressing fetish. He likes to dress in women's clothes and wander the streets of Glasgow. One night, while dressed as a woman, he witnesses the murder of the Oriental student. That "woman" witness we see is not his wife but Bruce. If this is true it really does explain alot, like the fact that he does not investigate the murder. Why should he? He already knows who the murderers are. Then, towards the end of the film, he dresses up again ln women's clothes and takes to the streets. The murderers see him and recognize him and that is why they pick him up with the intention of beating and killing him.
I still do not understand why he was so mean to the guy he considers his best friend, drugging and otherwise humiliating him, nor do I understand how a man with such obvious problems would even be considered for promotion, unless, of course, this supposed promotion is just another figment of his drug and alcohol addled mind.
However, the more I think and write about it, the more I see that there was more to the story than I originally thought.
I read your thread but I decided to respond here. I very much liked your analysis and I have to admit that once you accept that it was Bruce dressed up as a woman in the murder scene the movie makes alot more sense. I can see now that there is alot more depth to this film than I originally thought.
I had said something more here earlier but after I came across the other posts you made, I finally realized what I walked right into when I hit the reply button to your post. Man...I really snould've seen it. It's not like the Internet doesn't have its fair share of vermin but some of you are so wily with your words, we tend to mistake you for human. Sorry. Won't make that mistake again.
The truth is I just did not like the character of Bruce and found it extremely unpleasant to spend an hour and a half with him.
Uh, I don't think you are supposed to like him. In fact, the film makes it a point that you are supposed to hate him. This fact alone means the film was a success in one regard.