In Bruges (2008)
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Directed by: Martin McDonagh
Starring: Colin Farrell, Brenden Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes Studio: Focus Features IMDB Rating: 8 In Bruges is one of those films that not only holds your attention moment to moment while watching, but stays with you long after, as you try to dissect the ebbs and flow of drama, tragedy, farce, violence and tenderness. The story of 2 hitmen who are sent to Bruges, Belgium after a London hit goes tragically wrong, In Bruges initially reveals itself as an absurd comedy about the orderly Ken, played by Brenden Gleeson, and the ridiculously distracted Ray, played by Colin Farrell, as they share their opinions about the city itself. For Ken it’s an opportunity to explore Belgium’s oldest medieval city, while Ray petulantly repeats that it’s a “shithole.” The two are a mis-matched pair, but there is clearly a mutual respect and a brotherly love, if not a father/son dynamic, apparent in the early scenes.
Looming over their vacation stay is a call from their boss, Harry, played by Ralph Fiennes, who makes his presence known first in a written message passed to Ken and Ray by the hotel’s owner that alternates “fuckin” with ordinary words to form a threatening message to stay in their room until he calls. Harry reinforces his comic malevolence later when a phone call with Ken ends up with Harry destroying his home phone in the presence of his young children and suburban wife. |
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Ray, meanwhile, has fallen for a girl he sees on a movie set, a movie set that initiates Ray into a world of cocaine dealers, a jealous boyfriend, and a dwarf with an attitude. He is haunted, however, by the hit gone wrong, blaming himself for the death of a child and wondering whether killing is really his calling. At the same time, Ken is forced to choose between Ray and Harry, and in choosing Ray sets the remainder of the plot in motion. There is blood, cold blooded murder, and an eye lost to a prop blank gun, not to mention lots of cocaine, a shootout in the streets of Bruges and finally self-sacrifice and redemption, all in a tight hour and 47-minute runtime.
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nominated for an Academy Award for the screenplay, the film is littered with moments of great pathos and depth, offset by witty and sometimes absurd dialogue and situations, none sillier than a failed shootout in a hotel lobby, with the owner negotiating an alternate location. McDonagh has a knack for the patter, pacing and conciseness of great character conversation, cutting to the point to make the joke, the point or the cut. You want to hear more from the characters, but in the clipped and sometimes offhand nature of their interactions it feels natural.
McDonagh’s hyper reality, however, intensifies the violence, because the humor is spot on as performed by what I think are two of the best actors working today, in Gleeson and Farrell. Gleeson is probably more famous in Britain than in the US, but in supporting roles in several Harry Potter films playing Alastor ‘Mad Eye” Moody, he would certainly be recognizable. For me, his performance as real-life Irish gangster Martin Cahill in John Boorman’s 1998 The General is the best of his career because it’s the mixture of the humorous with the tragic and the absurd that gives great depth and meaning to the performance. In Bruges is completely different from that performance, but is no less effecting through Gleeson’s pained expressions of consternation, grief and resignation. Farrell, on the other hand, is spot on playing the dim, but sensitive Ray. He is a child in thought, action and desire, but as Farrell portrays him he offers great humor and a depth of sadness that is hard to comprehend. It’s as complete a performance as I can remember from Farrell.
In Bruges is not a simple movie. It is very funny, but alternately very sad and McDonagh hits the perfect note to balance both sides. The performances and the writing make the film and they too are perfectly balanced.
McDonagh’s hyper reality, however, intensifies the violence, because the humor is spot on as performed by what I think are two of the best actors working today, in Gleeson and Farrell. Gleeson is probably more famous in Britain than in the US, but in supporting roles in several Harry Potter films playing Alastor ‘Mad Eye” Moody, he would certainly be recognizable. For me, his performance as real-life Irish gangster Martin Cahill in John Boorman’s 1998 The General is the best of his career because it’s the mixture of the humorous with the tragic and the absurd that gives great depth and meaning to the performance. In Bruges is completely different from that performance, but is no less effecting through Gleeson’s pained expressions of consternation, grief and resignation. Farrell, on the other hand, is spot on playing the dim, but sensitive Ray. He is a child in thought, action and desire, but as Farrell portrays him he offers great humor and a depth of sadness that is hard to comprehend. It’s as complete a performance as I can remember from Farrell.
In Bruges is not a simple movie. It is very funny, but alternately very sad and McDonagh hits the perfect note to balance both sides. The performances and the writing make the film and they too are perfectly balanced.
