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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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 Posted - 04/21/2008 : 16:18:25
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Talented writer/director Martin McDonagh's debut featureIn Bruges- at its best - echoes Mamet, Pinter, even Beckett - and the more inspired moments of Pulp Fiction, dealing as it does with some thoroughly disagreeable characters who keep you engaged not because they're up to their necks in naughtiness, but because they're aware of The Human Condition and ponder it with wit and bafflement.
I kept thinking of a line we used to parrot as little toughie Brooklyn street kids: You're alive till you're dead.
Both Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as two Irish hit men under the control of Essex Mr Big [a surprising Ralph Fiennes] are excellent as they find ways to wait in what's been rightly dubbed "the best-preserved medieval city in Belgium!" In fact the tiny city is jaw-droppingly gorgeous - I've been there, and can attest to both its eternal and limited attraction.
In other words there ain't a lot to do if what you're after is an action-packed weekend break - or an action packed two hours at the movies.
At first the young, antsy Farrell and the older phlegmatic Gleeson can't understand why, after carrying out their lethal instructions back in London, Fiennes is making them hide out in a place Farrell dismisses as "a shithole." Nor what's next on the killing agenda.
Early on we get hints that Farrell has shared with Gleeson a terrible mistake he's made, taking down an unintended victim. If you're very well versed in "the language of film" you'll notice all the seeds planted about this incident and figure out how they grow together into an ending that may be melodramatic, even OTT, but one which punctuates the film's themes of judgement and retribution.
Along the way the men try to stay out of trouble, but it keeps finding them in the form of drugs, sex, and a bit of violence. Jordan Prentice, the dwarf from The Station Agent, turns up and is responsible for one of the funniest laugh out loud milli-seconds I've seen in a long time. Set-up, delivery, timing - all are perfect. You'll know it when you see it. Unless you need a sense-fo-humour transplant.
For, yes, folks, the film has some wonderfully comic moments. And some fine acting, including all the above plus Harry Potter's Clemence Poesy as the bit of fluff with a brain and some good one-liners.
No, it is not a perfect movie, nor will it change the world. But if you're open to it, it will stay with you and provide some food for thought without any heartburn.
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In Bruges
