Monday, February 18, 2008

In Bruges

“IN BRUGES” (Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson & Ralph Fiennes)
Ray (Farrell) & Ken (Gleeson) are hitmen in Great Britain. They have just completed a ‘job’ when their boss(Fiennes) calls & tells Ken to go hide out in Bruges for a week or two. As Ray tells us in a voiceover, ‘That’s in Belgium.’
The older Ken enjoys sightseeing in the medieval village, while younger Ray gruffs, “If I was brought up on a farm - & was retarded – I might enjoy being stuck in Bruges; But I wasn’t, & I’m not – so I don’t.”
You eventually learn that the hit didn’t go off smoothly & thus begins the ‘serious’ aspects of this otherwise ‘dark comedy’.
A wide variety of characters enter the hitmen’s lives; a midget/dwarf actor shooting a film in Bruges; a cute young female drug dealer scamming tourists with her boyfriend & a Canadian couple Ray mistakes as Americans add up to an interesting set-up that gets slightly complicated, but never to the point where you’re left wondering ‘what’s going on here, exactly?’
Unless you’re one of those who don’t like films that can’t make up its mind as to what it wants to be (A comedy or a drama) I highly recommend “In Bruges” as it is the type of quality movie one doesn’t normally find being released so early in the year.
I happen to love films that allow me to experience a variety of emotions – the trick is in being able to keep it believable & interesting– a difficult task for most, but writer/director Martin McDonagh pulls it off flawlessly while still using one of my least favorite actors (Farrell)
Despite the presence of mostly ‘undesirable’ characters, they’re humane side is shown as well & makes them more acceptable & worthy of caring about. & yes, it is unquestionably Colin Farrell’s best acting performance to date. He is actually the best part of the movie – which isn’t meant to take anything away from co-star Gleeson, but he has always been a welcome sight in anything I’ve seen him in & here he is exceptional as well.
Clearly the best movie of 2008 so far & I have the feeling it’s going to stay at #1 for quite a while.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

My wife and I am a big fan of Brenden Gleeson. It started with the Irish mob movie The General and we have followed him ever since. Very underrated actor.
So far to this date I think this is the best movie of the year aside from Iron Man. But those are two different movies. It was dark comedy done right with some funny lines.
Now we are very much looking to his portrayal of Winstin Churchill later on this year. Hey Variety magazine is good for something or we may have never known that.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for leaving a comment on this film, Kurt - It, along with 'Iron Man' & 'The Visitor' are my top 3 movies of '08 so far.
Brenden was always one of those - I've seen him before but can't remember his name guys - But after seeing 'In Bruges', I won't forget again.

Anonymous said...

He was Monk in Gangs Of New York, one of William Wallece's soldiers in Braveheart, he played Brian Cox's warrior brother in Troy and also the corrupt Police Chief in Dark Blue.

Anonymous said...

3rd best movie of the year. great role for brenden gleeson. he'll be sadly skipped over too.

Anonymous said...

So here we are in early September, Eddie & it sounds like we have similar tastes in movies - My 5 favorite right now are "The Visitor", "Iron Man", "Tropic Thunder", "In Bruges", "The Dark Knight" With Honorable Mention to "Traitor". This is just prior to "Burn After Reading"'s release, & something tells me 'The Dark Knight' is about to be bumped from my Top 5 list...

Anonymous said...

Martin McDoagh recieved a screenplay nomination ! Glad it got some recognition. I thought it was a real good movie !