In Bruges
| Year: | 2008 |
| Studio: | Focus Features |
| Director: | Martin McDonagh |
| Writer: | Martin McDonagh |
| Cast: | Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Clémence Poésy |
It sounds like a Monty Python sketch – two hitmen (Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson) on sabbatical in a picturesque Belgian town awaiting instructions from their scary boss (Ralph Fiennes), seeing the sights, falling in love with a pretty drug dealer and crossing paths with a hard partying midget actor.
Bloody, violent, profane, funny, touching and sad all at once, In Bruges throws everything into the cinematic blender and the result is just on the good side of messy. Some of the comic beats are mistimed and sometimes the movie isn't sure enough whether it's a comedy or a violent thriller, but Fiennes, Farrell and Gleeson all inhabit distinctive characters and elicit as many laughs as gasps.
Any film that combines the crushing, unremitting regret of accidentally killing a little kid with a line like 'you can't give horse tranquilisers to a midget!' is going to have a lot to offer, and In Bruges gives it all in a way you haven't seen in ages.
Bloody, violent, profane, funny, touching and sad all at once, In Bruges throws everything into the cinematic blender and the result is just on the good side of messy. Some of the comic beats are mistimed and sometimes the movie isn't sure enough whether it's a comedy or a violent thriller, but Fiennes, Farrell and Gleeson all inhabit distinctive characters and elicit as many laughs as gasps.
Any film that combines the crushing, unremitting regret of accidentally killing a little kid with a line like 'you can't give horse tranquilisers to a midget!' is going to have a lot to offer, and In Bruges gives it all in a way you haven't seen in ages.