To date this remains the only film Anthony Neilson has directed, in fact, he also wrote it and his writing credits can also be counted on one hand. This is a crime, for The Debt Collector is a powerhouse film, a grim and grungy piece of British miserablism that serves to gnaw away at your senses.Billy Connolly stars as ex-con Nickie Dryden, who after release from prison marries and tries to start afresh as an artist. But there is a vengeful policeman on his tail, Gary Keltie (Ken Stott), who believes nobody should ever forget the crimes that Dryden perpetrated.Stripping it down it's a tale of repercussions of actions, of perceived retribution and of off-kilter hero worship. Right from the off you know this is a tragedy piece, something Shakespearian like, clearly we are not in this part of Edinburgh to be cheered up! The colour photography (Dick Pope) is beautiful and belies the harsh nature of the story, while Neilson shows some splendid flighty camera work that gracefully marries up with the great performances of his two lead actors.It's a punch in the face movie, attention grabbing for sure, but it also taxes the brain. An unjustly neglected film that deserves to be sought out by more lovers of gritty British cinema. 9/10Footnote: Subtitles might be required for non British viewers.

This could have been a great film as the four protagonists each put in a strong performance especially Francesca Annis who is brilliant.It attempts to be a serious examination about whether a man's abhorrent violent past can ever be forgiven by his victims and whether those who take their duty to serve to protect seriously, like the police officer Gary Keltie,(Ken Stott) (who had been instrumental in taking him off the streets some 18 years ago) who don't believe Nickie Dryden (Billy Connolly) is a changed man. Haunting all those directly involved are the harrowing past images of the torture and mayhem he inflicted on his victims.The film makes a well made contrast between those who can easily forgive because it is but a remote experience which happened to others of which they know little and those who have suffered either as victims or as those who were emotionally related to those victims. To the Edinburgh arty literati he had paid his price according to the official judicial system by serving a long jail sentence for murder and by appearing reformed through his talent developed in prison which squares his past and placates their easy conscience to forgive. Their easy forgiveness is contrasted to those who actually suffered whose still open wounds are articulated by the police detective Keltie character. The scepticism and disbelief of these silent witnesses is passionately articulated by the Gary Keltie,(Ken Stott)character.It is unusual for a film to show so clearly this demarcation and divergence between the two views depending on where you are standing. Objectivity and forgiveness is easy if you are not a victim yourself and this is wonderfully brought out later in the film when one of those to whom he is now close but to whom past is another country has to live through the same torments when someone dear to them is murdered in a similarly bloody and brutal way to that by which Nickie Dryden had dispatched his earlier victim for which he had served his 18 years. Despite all the fancy surroundings which Dryden's talent and infamy combined have brought him, including his very "uptown girl" writer wife Val, played by Francesca Annis (who Keltie believes is partly attracted by the aura of his past infamy) Keltie believes him to be a fake: as also interestingly does the wannabe thug Flipper (Iain Robertson) who hero worships Dryden's past image.If it had stuck to portraying in a more realistic way the central theme of which, if either, of the 3 views (1) whether or not Dryden's debt "to society" is repaid by serving the officially sanctioned sentence and coming out a seemingly reformed character and accepted in official society or (2) whether he really is faking at being a changed man and (3) whether his debt can ever repaid and forgiven by his real victims (or those close to them) and those whose job it is to protect them, then this would have been a great film.As it is where it all falls apart into disbelief are several volcanic graphic, outrageous, completely over the top scenes, where the Gary Keltie,(Ken Stott) character himself commits violent acts which go way beyond angst and disbelief over demonstrating to himself and those he seeks to protect, that Nickie Dryden (Billy Connolly) can ever be anything but the psychopath he knew and put away. The only purpose of two of these scenes, the one at the art gallery and the other at a wedding that I can think of is that it contrasts the real difficulty which those who were or witnessed at 1st hand his victims suffering have in forgiving someone who harmed them with those to whom the remote experience of his perpetrated violence means very little. The 3rd scene is just so ridiculous and outrageous as it descends from an advocacy by Keltie by public challenges to the legitimacy of official forgiveness to that of private and personal revenge thereby descending to the similar level of depravity as the criminals whose behaviour he hates so much.The script seems to be saying that by Keltie being unable to contemplate a reformed perpetrator he sets in motion his own destruction being unable to shake off his "lifer" grudge against Dryden.I find it difficult for even the most conscientious detective, 18 years on, to be so obsessed to the point of near insanity with one particular past criminal given the number of hard cases he would have come across in the meantime especially one who is no longer trying to reestablish himself on old stomping grounds (literally) that he would jeopardise not only his career but put his life on the line to pursue a current non-criminal even if he is completely convinced that Nickie Dryden is a fraud.

This is a clever movie. Investigators try to get into the mind of a criminal and become them. That takes obsession, but what happens when obsession takes you? It's a fact of life that most people would like to be the tough, bad guy and this seems to be where this movie gets it's ideas. A life time on stage has prepared Connolly well. His performance is admirable. Admittedly, it's been about 3 years since I seen this film as I write this, though I remember strong feelings associated with it. There's something very real about it. I don't want to spoil this for anyone thinking of watching it, so I'll just say the "assualt" scene is particularly real and horrifically scary, as is the fight scene. No stupid Hollywood sound effects added to this one, and that's what makes it so damn scary because it doesn't seem as though it's just an act. If you like Connolly, check it out. If you like a thriller, same deal. If you like movies at all, there's no reason not to have a peek.

My title isn't to imply that this movie isn't worth seeing. If you can stand the despair, this movie is fantastic. I found that the words of the Greeks came back to me as I was watching The Debt Collector. "Those whom the gods will destroy, they first make mad". It seemed apt for a modern tragedy in the tradition of Sophocles.The best technique that Neilson used was lighting. It's rare to have a movie that goes from such brightness to such gloom. The wedding scene, for instance, was as bright and cheerful as you expect such a scene to be, but after Keltie's parting shot, we are outside, in the rain, the dark, the gloom... perfect!The violence is something that others have commented on. It is so unlike the Hollywood violence that we are accustomed to seeing. This violence is very real, and more shocking and horrifying because of it. All the male lead characters were capable of violence, and it made me wonder how close we all are from such displays.The Debt Collector is a story of hatred gone to extremes. It spoke to me of how hatred and revenge are empty ideas... and how it is much more important, if difficult to forgive those who have harmed you, and not to live in the past.This movie is not for everyone, but if you are interested in tragedy, then you should see this film.