“Trainspotting” was the first Irvine Welsh book to make it to the big screen, and still the best. “The Acid House” has faded into memory, while the forthcoming “Ecstasy” hasn’t raised much heat on the festival circuit. And while we patiently await the “Trainspotting” sequel Danny Boyle hopes to make in 2016, “Filth” could be the Welsh movie fans have been waiting for since 1996.
This spring, a red band trailer dropped for the James McAvoy-starring flick, and now a longer, unrated promo is here and it definitely is pushing itself right to the edges of decency. As it should. McAvoy leads the picture — in a role unlike anything we’ve seen him in before — as Bruce Robertson, a sex-obsessed, cocaine-addicted, bigoted Scottish police officer who is supposed to be investigating a murder but gets sidetracked by his own various vices. Sex, drugs, booze and more all feature prominently (again, as they should), but there is also a “Bronson“-esque vibe and energy here with some of the more surreal imagery from rising director Jon S. Baird.
Boasting an impressive cast to help tell the tale — Jim Broadbent, Eddie Marsan, Jamie Bell, Imogen Poots — along with a Clint Mansell score, this is one we’ll be keeping an eye out for on the fall festival slate. Watch below.