I've heard great things about In Bruges. But for some reason, I never got around to watching it despite actually owning the film. Great things indeed, the stuff I heard; BAFTA award, Irish Film and Television award, a handful of nominees, including the 2008 Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. 80% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Colin Farrell even won a freaking Golden Globe for Best Actor due to this film.
This guy. Who also sextaped a Playboy model. Golden Globe.
Now it's probably because I'm so used to seeing Colin Farrell in strong leading action-film roles, I find myself thinking "In Bruges? Gunfights, duels, people being beaten into pulp, nothing that would impress me I bet?" But a nagging feeling prompted me to finally give it a try. By god I tell you, I am so freaking glad I gave it a try, because this film is better than what everyone else is telling you. The first lines of the movie went:
"After I killed him, I dropped the gun in Thames, washed the residue off me hands in the bathroom of a Burger King, and walked home to await instructions. Shortly it came through - 'Get the fuck out of London, you dumb fucks. Get to Bruges.' I didn't even know where Bruges fucking was... It's in Belgium."
Just like that. A sprinkle of charm and plenty of razor-sharp wit, and I was S-O-L-D. I took the introductory bait right away and I knew it's going to get better, and it did. Within the first half hour I was able to memorize most of my favourite scenes and dialogues, because that's where the charm lies. In Bruges is that rare gem that you want to play over and over again, on mute, while you deliver the lines yourself because plenty of them are so easily quotable. Yes, the dialogues are really that good, that funny, which I think is essential to keep the entertainment going as the film deals with heavy topics such as atonement, suicide, after life, death, honor and guilt.
Two hitmen, Ray and Ken, sent to Bruges to lie low after a mission goes wrong and is told to wait for a call from their boss, the potty-mouthed Harry Waters. As they wait for the call, Ken, being the more adult and experienced of the two, embark on a cultural sightseeing tour of Bruges. He drags the more novice Ray along with him, who sulks along the way, commenting repeatedly on how "Bruges is a shithole."
"If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me but I didn't, so it doesn't."
But don't let Ray's words fool you, Bruges is about as beautiful a setting as you could hope for. In the picturesque city they meet a string of characters, each more unique and memorable than the last. From drug-dealing Chloe and her soddy ex-boyfriend, Yuri and his 'alcoves', Jimmy the midget and even the overweight American tourists whom Ray had bluntly insulted ("You's a bunch of fuckin' elephants!") and then chased Ray around angrily, only to quickly become tired ("Come on, leave it fatty!") - these characters, they're all perfectly flawed. And I say this as a good thing because they're all so much funnier that way, and when the story takes a sudden tragic turn you feel yourself sympathizing along with them.
Martin McDonagh did an extremely fantastic job in writing and directing, building up the plot for the explosive end. (And to think that this is just his first feature film. His first film ever won a bloody Oscar and that was just a short half-hour film, though the man is originally a respected playwright with extensive theater background.) Not only that, the man has an instinctive comedic timing that's been chiseled to pure perfection. He went from one dramatic episode to an obscurely funny one within minutes, and you let go and laugh, completely forgetting how sad you were a moment before. With In Bruges, McDonagh proves that even a hard-hitting, violent gangster film can be silly, poignant, deep and moving as well.
To really get a glimpse of the dark humour McDonagh instilled in this film, I'll leave you with one of my favourite scenes and let you decide how it is.
Ken: And at the same time, at the same time as trying to lead a good life, I have to reconcile with the fact that, yes, I have killed people. Not many people. And most of them were not very nice people. Apart from one person.
Ken: This bloke Danny Aliband’s brother. He was just trying to protect his brother. Like you or I would. He was just a lollipop man. But he came at me with a bottle. What are you gonna do? I shot him down.
Ray: Hmm. In my book, though, someone comes at you with a bottle, I’m sorry, that is a deadly weapon, he’s gotta take the consequences.
Ken: I know that in my heart, but I also know he was trying to protect his brother, you know?
Ray: I know, but a bottle, that can kill ya. That’s a case of “It’s you or him”. If he’d come at you with his bare hands, that’d be different. That wouldn’t have been fair.
Ken: But technically, someone’s bare hands, they can kill you too. They can be deadly weapons too. What if he knew Karate, say?
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