By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Martin McDonagh
Starring: Brendan Gleeson | ColinFarrell | Ralph Fiennes
Country: belgium, united_kingdom
Year: 2008
Running time: 107
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780536/
Toni says: “IN BRUGES is a very unique dark comedy directed by Martin McDonagh who won the Academy Award in 2005 for his Live Action Short, SIX SHOOTER. I say it is very unique because it has some incredibly funny raw lines like: ‘If I’d grown up on a farm and was retarded, Bruges might impress me, but I didn’t, so it doesn’t.’ It is real and not politically correct in its humor as seen in this previous quote, yet is dark and powerful at the same time.
“What is the film about you ask? The location is as the title states is in Bruges, Belgium, seen in the film it like an odd fairytale town with medieval preserved qualities. Two hit men, Ray and Ken, are brought together in Bruges after a job gone wrong in what could be their final trip right before Christmas.
“Ray, played by Colin Farrell, does an amazing job of playing the anti-tourist who hates the beauty of statues and buildings and is not afraid to mouth off about it in public, while Ken, played by Brendan Gleeson, is a more experience hit man, who finds some refuge in Bruges.
“They are both awaiting the boss’ call, Harry, played by Ralph Fiennes, who you do not recognize in person until later in the film, you only hear his voice on the phone in conversation with Ken. He is ruthless and likable at the same time. Personally, my favorites are written well and have well developers characters that you care about, even the bad guys J. I found myself to hate the Harry character yet I was very fascinated about him. Once Harry enters the story, we see that the little vacation gets more intense and makes Ken question what is right and what is necessary to do.
“Along the way, you meet other folks in the mix like a racist dwarf actor Jimmy, played by Jordan Prentice, who is pumped up on horse tranquilizers and is not afraid to speak his mind. I have to admit that I thought this was Peter Dinklage, since he seems to be the main dwarf actor in the business getting work after his great performance in the little gem, THE STATION AGENT. Jordan, back in the 1986, has Howard in HOWARD THE DUCK and also played Martin in a film called WEIRDSVILLE amongst a few other roles. Ray’s love interest in the film Chloe is played by Clémence Poésy, won a Golden FIPA for her acting in a UK TV series ‘Gunpowder, Treason & Plot’ where she portrayed Mary, Queen of Scots. She is much less glamorous in this role, where while on the surface appears as a beautiful filmmaker, yet she has some dark secrets of her own.
“I was able to both laugh and feel pain for the characters in this film. The acting was phenomenal along with an excellent screenplay that carries it very well. It is a darkly surreal adventure of Ray and Ken and eventually Harry and additional vivid characters with life and death consequences. As surreal as it may seem, it is hard to escape your past in Bruges.
“This is one of those films that get looked over be the Academy because distributors do not have enough faith that there is an audience for the film because it is not that easy to categorize, hence debuting the film in theatres after the Academy Awards. 5 cats”