In Bruges Review
by sdo230@gmail.com (sdo230 AT gmail DOT com)February 11th, 2008
In Bruges
a little review by Sam Osborn of TheMovieMammal.com
I have a soft spot for hitmen. Counted as one of the few in support of last year's Smokin' Aces, I refer to my alter-ego as Jef Costello, the assassin from Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samourai. But In Bruges is something more than my fix for the genre. It's a richly constructed work of character and plot, irony and contrast. Writer/Director Martin McDonagh plays in opposites, foiling his two protagonists, the plus- sized Brendan Gleeson and the lithe Colin Farrell, alongside one another as two hitmen ordered to lay low in the medieval tourist town of Bruges. Besides the farce of contradiction that this set-up provokes --mismatched criminals deflowering a lovely Belgium village--Mr. McDonagh puts his stage background to use in mounting dialogue and character where other directors would pile up violence. Con men, gun dealers, coke dealing dates, whore-buying dwarfs, and a pregnant housekeeper run the gamut of theatrical characters here, making for a Dickensian palette of offbeat charm that wends its way into the clever (almost too clever) plot. It's an impressive debut, if nothing else. And it proves that Mr. McDonagh has an eye for the cinematic that goes beyond winning the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film. One of the first notable films of 2008.
Sam Osborn
In Bruges: Written and Directed by Martin McDonagh. Starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Feinnes. MPAA Classification: R (strong bloody violence, pervasive language and some drug use)
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