Thursday 15 May 2008

In Bruges

Marvellous film.

Clever little film, indeed. If you've seen the trailers, you'll have seen that
it's a jet-black comedy about two hitmen exiled to Bruges after a botched job.
And that much is true. Half the time. The other half, it's this desperately sad
study of guilt, loneliness, depression, loyalty, consequences, and I don't know
what else. And quite cleverly, it turns the comedy on and off, so one moment
you're chuckling, the next you're really quite melancholy. I had no idea that
Colin Farrell was *any* good, never mind this good. Brendan Gleeson's also a
lot better than his Harry Potter panto turns suggest, and the two of them play
off each other brilliantly. Fellow Potter-alumnus Ralph Fiennes turns up at the
end and has a go at stealing the show as their demented East-end gangster boss,
and very nearly pulls it off, switching neatly between a scary-as-you-like
villain, and a parody of same.

Go see it, you'll laugh, you'll cry.