BRUNA SURFISTINHA (2011)

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Based on the book The Scorpion’s Sweet Poison by Raquel Pacheco, this Brazilian film directed by Marcus Baldini and starring Deborah Secco is the true story of a prostitute in Brazil who started writing a blog about her exploits and became a bestselling author because of it.

She takes on her working name, Bruna and then calls herself Bruna Surfistinha (Bruna, Surfer Girl) and creates this persona that allows her to be adulated.

Ultimately, it’s about a young girl who is desperate to be loved, noticed and dependant on no-one.

Deborah Secco takes herself and us through the gamut of experience and emotional drainage of being a prostitute and she really commits to it, but I don’t think I liked or empathize with the character enough to really care.

I was vaguely interested. The storytelling wasn’t that inspired or innovative, quite what you might expect of a story of this subject matter. It takes us through the highs and lows of her experience but one always feels like an outsider as opposed to being right there feeling the pain with her.

I had higher hopes, it being Brazilian for a start but all in all an average flick.

2.5/5

BUY THE BOOK THAT THE FILM WAS BASED ON HERE

FILTH (2013)

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James McAvoy gives possibly the best performance of his career to date but unfortunately the film itself doesn’t come close to matching it’s power.

Here he plays one messed up copper in Edinburgh who is in the running for a promotion and will do anything to get it. As the film plays out you get to learn about his motives and what drives him.

The cast all bring something interesting to the table-Jamie Bell as a young impressionable copper, Eddie Marsan as a sappy fellow mason, Imogen Poots as another of his rivals for the promotion, Jim Broadbent giving his best in dreamstate bizarro, even David Soul turns up in one of the weirdest out of place scenes I have seen for a long while.

Irvine Welsh is a very interesting writer and during the 90’s he was churning out some great work. All the adaptations, however pale in comparison. Even Trainspotting, which was an enjoyable flick (the only Danny Boyle film I half-like), was nothing compared to the raw power of the book and here’s the problem, how do you translate the visceral nature of the written word to the big screen. Maybe it can’t be done in Welsh’s case. His writing is so different and although it can be cinematic at times it loses so much of its strength in the translation.

The shocking scenes are no longer shocking in 2014, it’s all a bit ‘yeah, and?’.

Nice to hear Clint Mansell’s soundtrack, he has been doing very well for himself in the world of cinematic orchestration since he had success in the grunge scene in the 90’s with Pop Will Eat Itself (Riffs?  Yeah? Can ya dig it?) most notably with Darren Aronofsky.

It seems at times that this is a film that would have been made better by a more seasoned, talented director. Jon S Baird is probably best known for Cass, which was alright, no big shakes.

The tragedy of it all is the fact that James McAvoy really shows us how great he is portraying the corrupt, racist copper with depth and commitment.

Let’s hope he gets a chance soon to do this on a bigger and better stage.

2.7/5

BUY THE BLU-RAY DVD HERE

DOWNLOAD THE FILM ON iTUNES HERE