Martin Mc Donagh's "In Bruges" proves at least one thing once and for all: Colin Farrell is a thoughtful, emotionally open, soon to do very great things on the screen, actor...something that anyone who has seen "Tigerland" and "Home at the End of the World" already knows despite evidence to the contrary: "S.W.A.T," "Alexander," "Miami Vice," etc. etc.
'If I'd grown up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me. But I didn't, so it doesn't" says Ray (Farrell) to his fellow hit man, Ken (burly Brendan Gleeson): both sent to Bruges, Belgium to cool off after a bloody hit that unfortunately went woefully wrong.
This is McDonagh's first film as Director/Writer and it is evident that he has a great eye for detail both in the sparkling, smart-*ss dialogue as well as with the stunning visual vocabulary of movies. Bruges is a beautiful city: ancient, redolent of the many lives lived there with its cobblestone streets, masonry buildings and outdoor plazas. As such, staid, old lady of Belgium Bruges stands in vivid contrast to the Irish duo of middle-aged, seen-it-all, supposedly Gay, interested in the sights and history of the city Ken and the emotionally over-wrought, painfully sensitive Ray: nervous, anxious, wanting to party, sporadically breaking out in sobs...literally an open emotional wound desperate for succor, blatantly remorseful, seeking redemption in all the wrong places.
"In Bruges" roils over with goofy, silly dialogue (mostly spoken by Farrell who proves very adept at delivering it in droll, wry, ironic style) and profanity, violent bursts of gunfire, and jokes at the expense of dwarfs and Americans. Screenwriter McDonagh steers his odd couple Irishmen through a series of strange/odd situations in which questions of honor, friendship and mortality are mulled. The older Gleeson also proves to be the grounded one: good at what he does (that is kill people) and able, by his very presence to calm Ray down.
Ralph Fiennes is also on hand here and plays Ray and Ken's boss, a mean-spirited bloke who talks in Michael Caine-Cockney cadences and arrives in Bruges to make sure that a hit, assigned to Ken is carried out without fail.
"In Bruges" shares many of the surface traits of such films as Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" but, though great as "Pulp Fiction" is, it doesn't have the heart and soul of Mc Donagh's "In Bruges": a film that satisfies the thriller/action genes of us all but also digs very deep below and reveals the true natures of its very conflicted, ultimately very human characters.
How to describe this deceptively simple film is the hardest place to begin. The plot's fairly simple: Two Irish hit-men, Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson), are sent to Bruges (in Belgium) to wait out the consequences of an assassination gone terribly awry.
The younger of the two, Ray, is bored and angtsy with the whole place. He's got a guilty conscience, having been the bloke who totally screwed up the hit. Ken, older and more sanguine about the whole matter, is the total opposite. He's enjoying the sights and quiet cadence of the city, seeing it as a brief respite from what he knows is a powder keg about to blow up in both their faces.
Without giving away key plot points (all brilliantly revealed as the beginning of the end begins to play out toward its tragic conclusion), all I can say is WOW! Though I have never been a huge Colin Farrell fan, I found the actor to be an absolute revelation. The man can actually act, excellently conveying Ray's guilty conscience with a manic, twitchy angst that practically sets the screen on fire. When Ray's mistake is finally revealed in all its heartbreaking glory, Farrell manages to portray Ray's guilt and attempt at redemption in a scene that awes as well as chills the viewer. This is definitely an Oscar caliber performance, and one would hope the actor will continue to make such smart choices in future roles. The fact that Farrell gets to use his actual Irish accent is definitely a plus for the character. His Ray is a charming, annoying, childish, totally screwed up nut about to crack.
Gleeson, too, is equally convincing in his quiet, calm portrayal. His Ken, world weary and tried of the whole business of death, nevertheless knows he's got to pull back his shoulders and soldier on--even if it means he has to face the bad end of a gun himself from mob boss, Harry (an excellent Ralph Feinnes channeling an evil more vicious than even Lord Voldemort). Harry's riff on the Uzi he is offered by a gun supplier is hilarious, as is Ray's in run with a racist dwarf, among others as he ambles through Bruges seeking a solace neither drink nor drugs, or even a pretty girl, can offer.
The end for these three men is tragic, but totally fitting. I thoroughly enjoyed In Bruges and watched it several times just to soak in the early subtle clues leading up to Ray's mental meltdown. I admit that I had to watch the film with English subtitles on as I couldn't understand the actor's thick accents, but that wasn't any distraction or detriment.
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Two hit men, Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) are on a sort of makeshift holiday in Bruges, Belgium after a hit gone wrong. While awaiting word from their boss, Harry (Ralph Fiennes), Ken is interested in sightseeing and the history of the place, while Ray couldn't be more unimpressed and can't wait to escape.
After hearing so many wonderful things about this film I was absolutely prepared to be let down. Movies rarely live up to the hype for me, but I am happy to say this one did and then some.
In Bruges had me laughing out loud, hard and repeatedly, as the political incorrectness and the way Ray and Ken play off each other is hilarious. It had me sobbing big ugly girly tears as the emotion that pours from Ray, his guilt, his sadness, is absolutely palpable and heartbreaking. This movie had me gasping at the violence, on the edge of my seat and on an emotional roller coaster from one minute to the next. It was great.
The performances are grand by all three main characters and the supporting cast lends equally wonderful and interesting performances. I found this to be a multi-dimensional and complex film filled with irony, humor, action and sadness. I was really stunned at the power behind Colin Farrell's performance. He goes from a sort of spazzy, funny, slightly inept and combustible sidekick to a sensitive, deeply tortured soul in about 2 seconds and every facet of his character is believable and brilliant.
In Bruges is one of those quotable films with a billion awesome one-liners and moments. This is easily one of my favorite movies this year and definitely upon my list of all time favorites. I loved every fricken minute of it.
5+ stars
Cherise Everhard, August 2008
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Much like a comedian, "In Bruges" is a film that uses humor to mask pain. It tells jokes and we laugh at them, but it's by no means a comedy; the story is deadly serious and at times downright shocking, and we're ultimately left in limbo about what we should and shouldn't find funny. This is actually one of the film's greatest strengths, simply because life itself is often hilarious in the face of tragedy. Writer and director Martin McDonagh seemed to know that all too well, which is good because it made for a unique and surprisingly engaging film. But be aware that not everyone will be this receptive: the subject matter is anything but light; most of the characters inhabit that massive gray area between decency and amorality; the ending is appropriate but definitely unconventional, leaving us unsure as to whether or not everyone got what they deserved.
The film opens with two Irish hitmen--Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson)--arriving in Bruges, a Belgian city that's known for being the most preserved medieval village in all of Europe. They were sent there after a job in England went horribly wrong. I won't say what happened, but I will say that Ray is now an emotional wreck, unable to forgive himself for what he has done. Anyway, both men are told to wait in Bruges until further notice. In the meantime, they might as well enjoy a little sightseeing, and indeed, Bruges is a beautiful, picturesque place. While Ken is more than willing to take everything in, Ray behaves like an immature teenager, shooting his mouth off about how awful Bruges is. He even gets into hot water with tourists, especially the American ones--it seems he's still bitter over the Vietnam War and the murder of John Lennon.
But it's much more likely that the past few days have taken their toll on him, with the incident in England weighing heavily on him. His only outlet is beer, cocaine, and Chloë (Clémence Poésy), a young woman working with a film crew. They share a fascinating if odd relationship, him being a hitman on the brink of suicide, her being a drug dealer and occasional robber. It's through her that Ray meets Jimmy (Jordan Prentice), a dwarf acting in the film being shot in Bruges. They, too, share an interesting relationship, not only because both are pent up fountains of anger, but also because of how they express that anger. Here's an example for Jimmy: there's a scene in which he's high on cocaine, ranting about how there will eventually be a race war between the blacks and the whites, and he feels that every ethnicity from the Vietnamese to the Pakistanis will side with the blacks. "What about black midgets and white midgets?" Ray asks. "Yes!" Jimmy emphatically responds. "Now there's a movie!" chuckles Ray, who quickly notices how offensive Ken is finding this conversation.
After a few days, Ken in finally contacted by Harry (Ralph Fiennes), who gives specific instructions that I won't reveal. I will say Harry is probably the film's only evil character, despite the fact that he has strict principles about who and who not to kill. He apparently first saw Bruges when he was only seven years old, and he loved it so much that he wanted both Ken and Ray to experience it. Bruges is like a city in a fairy tale, Harry says, and woe to those who don't feel the same way--one gets the sense that, in his eyes, disliking Bruges is akin to disliking the air we breathe. As irrational as this line of thinking is, Ken goes along with everything Harry says and always obeys. But then the next hit is ordered, and at that point, Ken reconsiders the life he leads and why he leads it. This, in turn, forces Harry to come back to Bruges.
All this paves the way for the final sequences, which are cleverly written to say the least. They serve as brutal counterparts to many earlier scenes, many of which have Ray and Ken discussing the existence of heaven, hell, and purgatory. They also wonder what it means to be a truly good person; Ken feels that he's generally a nice guy, yet he's well aware that he has killed people. He also asserts that, with one exception, his victims were all bad people who deserved to be killed. This begs the question: Where is the line drawn, since justified murder is still murder? Ken and Ray grapple with this, knowing perfectly well that their feelings could mean the difference between life and death.
There's a scene that sees both men in the Basilica of the Holy Blood, which displays a fragment of cloth said to have been soaked with the blood of Jesus Christ. Ken wants to see this cloth while Ray is desperate to leave, and that's an interesting duality since both men are sinners and unsure about what the hereafter has in store for them. Ray believes that hell is an eternity in Bruges, which is the only reason why he doesn't want to die there. Ken eventually believes that his purpose is to send Ray off to find his own purpose. Both have a lot to pay for. Whether or not they actually do pay, I'm not sure; much like the film's overall sense of humor, the ending of "In Bruges" is ambivalent, leaving us in a thick fog. But at the very least, it's a lovely, almost magical fog, much like the one shrouding Bruges every evening.
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Another delightful little British black gangster comedy. Think of: Sexy Biest (w Ben KIngsley). Snatch (w Brad Pitt, Benicio dT ...). Layer Cake (w Daniel Craig). These guys have figured it out. Usually high class actors (here R.Fiennes, who is much more convincing as a bad guy than otherwise, and the quite capable Colin F., who had been a bit overrated for a while, but he really is quite talented).
A basically simple plot (a hit man has screwed up, causing collateral damage; the boss needs to remove him, orders the partner to get it done, which turns out a problem...) runs into obstacles because the protagonists develop unexpected attitudes. Slapstick with guns.
(Disclaimer: let me add that the headline is not my opinion, but a quote from Colin Farrell's character Ray, who thinks that Bruges is a s-hole; I fully disagree with that crass opinion, Bruges is as nice a place as you are likely to find in the whole of Belgium. On Tottenham I am not an expert.)
Just wanted to give a heads up to fans of these films that the US blu-ray set which was released in June of 2013 does in fact contain the two films on 2 individual discs with all the special features intact. Widescreen. I got this yesterday and it is awesome. It even has a little flyer inside announcing The World's End, the third film in this "trilogy" which is scheduled to hit theatres in August of 2013. Reviews of the inferior Alliance Canadian release have been mixed into this item listing, which is the one everyone's complaining about. Avoid that version and get Universal's to ensure you're getting the real deal. Cornettos for all!
