Two hitmen find themselves holed up in Belgium in the city of Bruges. One is fine doing the tourist trade, but the other is haunted by his botched first job. This black comedy tries to balance the funny with the gruesome and only partially succeeds. However, it does manage to have some great performances.
Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) are two hitmen who are told by their boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes) to lay low in the city of Bruges and await his instructions. Ken is more than happy to explore the city as a tourist, but Ray thinks that Bruges is a sh*thole.
Ray is depressed because his first job went wrong and a child was accidentally killed. One night the two see a film being shot and Ray strikes up a romance with Chloe (Clemence Poesy). He also attempts to befriend the dwarf actor, Jimmy (Jordan Prentice), shooting the film.
They miss Harry’s call and he leaves a profanity laced message that he’ll call back tomorrow night and not to miss it. Ken lets Ray sneak away for his date with Chloe and awaits the call.
When Harry does call he wants Ken to whack Ray because of the shooting of the child. Ken takes pity on Ray and shuttles him out of the city, but when he tells Harry what he’s done Harry decides to come to Bruges and do the job himself.
Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson couldn’t be more opposite in their appreciation of the Belgium city of Bruges. This grew out of the director’s same trip to the city where he found himself excited by the tourist trade and alternately quickly bored and the dueling parts of his mind gave birth to both characters.
The film’s cast is pitch perfect with the trio of main characters shining in their roles. Colin Farrell is believably morose as the down Ray, Fiennes both chilling and humorous as the nasty Harry, and Brendan Gleeson delightful as the almost fatherly Ken.
The film also has some standout performances in the supporting roles as Clemence Poesy is charming as Chloe, who is not as pure as Ray thinks her, and Jordan Prentice has some funny moments as the American (“Don’t hold it against me”) dwarf actor.
The small twinge of a problem that most might have with the film is that it’s a dark comedy and some of the darkness has a tendency to overwhelm the comedy aspects.
About the time you’re laughing at some of the dialogue and antics of the characters the director throws in a scene where some horrible thing happens and your laughter is caught in your throat.
It’s really quite bloody and by the end of the film there are not very many happy endings. Even though the two genres really don’t mesh well in this particular film, the film is still one to seek out for the fine performances of the cast. The film also does show some delightful scenery of the city of Bruges and it did make me want to visit this picturesque location.
In Bruges is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include 18 minutes of deleted and extended scenes and a 6-minute gag reel. The 14-minute “When in Bruges” examines how the screenplay was developed and how the actors came to be cast. The 7-minute “Strange Bruges” looks at the city.
The 5-minute “Boat trip around Bruges” is just that with some Bruges’ trivia flashed across the screen. The 90 second “F**king Bruges” is a clip montage of the profanity used in the film.
In Bruges is surprisingly funny and bloody, but events also make it a bit depressing. Even with those seemingly contradictory descriptions, In Bruges turns out to be an excellent little film with some great performances by its cast.
In Bruges is now available at Amazon . It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for an August 11th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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