| IN BRUGES |
 2008 - USADirector: Martin McDonagh
- Reviewed by Vickie
Of course, if you actually go see this rather clever little action-comedy-thriller you'll hear it uttered dozens and dozens of times, usually with a tone of disgust, by dim-witted hit man Ray (Colin Farrell), who's been banished to the historic Belgian city with his partner, Ken (Brendan Gleeson). A job in London went awry, resulting in an unexpected death, and the guys' violent boss, Harry (Ralph Fiennes), wants them out of sight until the fuss dies down. Initially planning on using their time in Bruges—which Ray repeatedly refers to as a "s**thole"—as a holiday, the pair of them almost immediately get involved in all sorts of shenanigans. Ray falls for a local girl (Clémence Poésy), who has a colorful career of her own; Ken gets a disturbing new assignment unbeknownst to his young partner; and everybody becomes tangentially involved in a film shoot involving a rather grouchy American dwarf named Jimmy (Jordan Prentice). Things don't improve once Harry decides he's coming to Bruges, as well. Well, they don't improve for Ken and Ray, but they certainly get more interesting from the audience's standpoint. Light and quick, the writing feels fresh and tends to avoid some of the clichés of the genre... even directly poking at fun at them several times (witness Harry's quip to pregnant innkeeper Thekla Reuten during what should be the shootout scene). Writer-director Martin McDonagh also does a fantastic job of making Ray and Ken sympathetic and endearing; even when discussing their line of work—killing people—you can't help but feel that these two blokes are completely sincere when they express regret over what they've done. Equal credit for that success has to go to Farrell and Gleeson, the latter of whom is so lovable and huggable that you can't help but like him. Both Ray and Ken are haunted by their misdeeds, and each actor (in his own way) does some nice work bringing that pain to the surface... in Farrell's case, as overwhelming sadness, and in Gleeson's case, as quiet resolve. And Fiennes, who always seems to delight in playing the heavy, gets another chance here, seizing it with both hands... but, this time, playing it as much for laughs as he is with gravitas. The film does suffer from some uneven pacing, and several of the sequences probably could have been trimmed a little, but overall it's an entertaining offering suitable for beating the February-film blahs. |
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Much in the same way that the 'Pie instructed readers on the correct
pronunciation of 