One day in 2012, writer Evan Welsh was so excited after reading the script for the adaptation of Dirt sent by director Joe Baird that he emailed him overnight telling him not to move a word. In his opinion, since the novel was published, although the script has flooded in, only Joe Baird really understands him. To this end, he also authorized the other party: "You can tear up my book and reassemble it."
Who is Evan Welsh? Maybe you haven't heard his name, but you must have heard of the movie "Trainspotting". Yes, also adapted from his novel. Whether or not it was influenced by the gloomy and cold weather in Scotland, Welsh's novels are always infused with decadence and confusion. "Trainspotting" is a group of corrupt and rebellious young men and women, while "Dirt" is a middle-aged policeman who has failed and failed.
In the 1990s, Harvey Keitel played a New York policeman Hansen in the famous film "Bad Lieutenant", and the protagonist in "The Dirt" Bruce and Hansen have the same purpose. place. In the police station, in order to get a promotion opportunity, he did everything he could to deceive his superiors, instigate his colleagues, and even gang up with his colleagues' wives. When handling cases, he was used to intimidating and even molesting underage girls. ; Treating the only friend, he not only coaxed and deceived, but even induced the other's wife to have a relationship with him.
But it was such a shameless scum police officer who showed a moment of humanity and warmth when facing a single mother and child. As the film progresses, when the glamorous wife who will never be in the same frame as him, the old doctor at the brain gate, and a dirty and silent little boy appear in turn, we gradually discover that Bruce has serious mental problems. He was extremely arrogant outside, and when he returned home, he could only numb himself with drugs, alcohol and masturbation, to escape the failure and bad life in reality.
James McAvoy, who played Bruce, gave an excellent performance in the film, showing the cop who is cunning and slick, strong outside and fighting himself. As the last cast of the film, the original author Welsh was worried when he first met McAvoy that he would not be able to play because he was too young, but Yimei easily entered the role without any preparation during the audition. Shocked Welsh: "He is my forty-year-old addict."
In the eyes of outsiders, participating in the "Dirt" drama is a professional gamble made by Yimei, but he himself does not care, and jokes that it is a big deal to go back and play "X-Men". It is precisely because of such a relaxed state of mind, coupled with the fact that he belongs to the same Scots as Welsh and Baird, it is easier to understand the script culturally and psychologically, which naturally results in a superb performance. The most shocking scene in the film, Bruce watched the video of his ex-wife and daughter with tears in his eyes, while making a harassing call to his friend's wife and masturbating. McAvoy's grasp of these two unrelated emotions is better than before. The free switching of different emotional states allows viewers to deeply experience the perversion, helplessness and despair of the characters.
It can be said that James McAvoy's perfect control of "Bruce" completes the film "Dirt", and even its performance itself is more attractive than the plot. The "Yimei" in the eyes of the public turned into a wretched, unshaven man with a beard, and in the end, he played a transvestite, completely subverting the previous image of a gentle and clean scholar.
The performance is better than the plot, and it actually reflects some small flaws in the film. In the original novel, Welsh went all out to portray the anti-social and anti-moral Bruce, with the ultimate goal of highlighting the social problems faced by the Scottish working class, such as addiction to alcohol, drug abuse, racism, sexism, religious prejudice, etc. However, in the movie, the director blamed Bruce's actions on the accidental murder of his younger brother when he was a child. This adaptation does make the characters' behaviors logical, but it makes the work's vision too narrow and takes a breath away from the idea. . Even so, "Dirt" is still a very watchable film, and it is worth at least one beautiful acting.
♑
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