ScreenWize

After winning an Academy Award for his short film Six Shooter in 2006, Irish playwright turned filmmaker Martin McDonagh hits the screen running with his first feature film In Bruges. And what a debut - it’s a dark beauty, full of wonderfully clever dialogue, beautifully crafted scenes and enough of an undercurrent of something forlorn and sacred to avoid it becoming just another witty thriller.

Heavily influenced by Harold Pinter’s play The Dumb Waiter, the story opens with two hit men waiting for instructions. They’re beefy middle-aged Ken (Brendan Gleeson) and good looking but emotional Ray (Colin Farrell) and they’ve been sent to the ancient Belgian city of Bruges following a contract killing that seems to have gone wrong. Their English gangster boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes) suggests they go sightseeing in the medieval town, and the more philosophical Ken is keen to oblige. Ray, however, is not in the mood. Limited in the cultural and intellectual departments, he behaves like a spoilt brat until he finds an Irish pub and meets the gorgeous Chloe (Clemence Poesy) who’s working on a film in town. With his spirits renewed, it doesn’t take long before Ray’s blunt and violent disposition causes chaos. Harry then decides he has to come to Bruges to clean up the mess.

The comedy is dark, intelligent and offbeat and the story never predictable – mainly because it’s driven by the characters rather than any need for impact or action. McDonagh manages to carefully maintain our sympathy for both Ray and Ken, despite the fact that they’re killers – much of this because of the warm and engaging performances of Farrell and Gleeson who start as bored colleagues and end up with an affinity more like father and son. Fiennes gives a hilariously gutsy performance as the crazed cockney gangster boss (in the mould of Ben Kingsley’s portrayal of Don Logan in Sexy Beast), and all the remaining cast can’t fail to deliver the goods with such thoughtful character design and some of the best lines written for cinema this year. (The language is very strong in places but never gratuitous). The film’s beautifully haunting score is written by Carter Burwell - who has composed for all the Coen Brothers’ films - and cinematographer Eigil Bryld makes Bruges look alluring whether the streets are full of dangerous gangsters, innocuous tourists or strange characters from Chloe’s film. Overall, it’s a wonderful combination of wickedly absurd and intelligently macabre. As Chloe says to Ray on their first date: “There’s never been a classic movie made in Bruges until now.” She’s right.

SW

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Filed Under: Reviews by Simon