Everyone has those few films that are inescapable. For example, I’ve been fleeing the grasps of Hannibal Lecter and his cannibalistic tastes in The Silence of the Lambs since I first caught it at fourteen. In fact, these movies become so special that even the people around us start to notice how much we obsess over them (I say notice, it’s more of a heavy sigh and a roll of the eye but that’s love, baby). It enhances the world around you, everything about the film is wrapped into your tiny life. Your shelves begin to fill with merchandise, you slip dialogue into your everyday and at the extremity of it you may even name your child after a character. The best thing about this? Passion. Inescapable passion. That is one of the more beautiful things in the world.
This is all because I know you’ve seen the title of the piece and I know the first thing from your lips was “For fuck sake, she’s talking about Filth again.” True, I don’t think there is any other film I’ve written about since I started my writing career and I don’t think there will be one again. The movie changed a lot of things for me and it’ll stay as so - immortalised on my skin and passed down in generations. And as it is my birthday, my present to myself is to talk about Jon S Baird’s glorious film yet again. Though this time, I’m talking about something new - the soundtrack.
(Be careful, there are spoilers)
The soundtrack is an exhilarating combination of soulful covers, original music and narration which all capture the personality of Bruce and his hedonistic lifestyle. Wilson Pickett’s insatiable cover of Born To Be Wild, Backdoor Santa by Clarence Carter and The Third Degree’s cover of Duffy’s Mercy spice the film with this wildness and confidence that Bruce imagines he has. As the bounds down the streets of Edinburgh to the beats of Otis Blackwell’s It’s All Over Me, his cock-sure antics all translate through the thudding guitars, brass instruments and soul vocals. On top of this collection, Clint Mansell (who scored the unforgettable Moon soundtrack) provides original music from his Scottish flared arrangement of Creep that suits the crushing and sorrow filled finale to Robbo’s theme with an explosive array that makes bagpipes sound excellent. And let’s not forget Jim Broadbent’s Christmas carol as he talks about personal issues with Bruce. It’s all a loving relationship between the new and the classic.