A rare pleasant moment between Ken (Brendan Gleeson) and Ray (Colin Farrell), a pair of professional killers lying low in Belgium in writer-director Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges
Don’t expect a Möebius strip of gunfights and chase sequences. Don’t expect the posturing and gun fetishism. Despite the accents, don’t expect cartoon thugs caught between the smash cuts of a Guy Ritchie homage directed by Guy Ritchie. In Bruges, the first film from acclaimed playwright Martin McDonagh, is better than that. It’s not interested in fetishizing the tropes of its crime genre, but rather achieves poignancy and gravitas in the centre of pitch-black comedy. All the more surprising, considering this is a film about a hitman in search of redemption.
After a botched hit on a priest, Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) get sent to keep a low profile in Bruges, what their boss (Ralph Fiennes as Ben Kingsley as Don Logan from Sexy Beast) describes as the Belgian “fairy tale town.” As oft is the case in small European towns, there’s fuck all to do. Ken delights in taking in the historical sites, but Ray paces, fidgets and babbles his way through encounters with a midget actor, obese American tourists and the girl of his dreams. Not that this is a film of wacky hijinks and slapstick. In Bruges is surprisingly understated, though still laugh-out-loud funny. And underneath it all runs the story of a boy who stumbled into adulthood and can’t deal with his bloody burden.
McDonagh is a playwright far more inspired by the films of David Mamet than the plays of David Mamet. In his directorial and screenwriting debut, though, McDonagh brings his playwright pedigree with him; the repetition that marks the patter of his dialogue, rich dramatic irony and a streak of black humour darker than a million dead babies. He’s able to catch you in the junction between emotions, where comedy and tragedy swirl like colours. All of it comes to a head beautifully in the film’s final moments.
For a writer and director so accustomed to the stage, McDonagh shoots a beautiful film. He has an eye for action, staging the violence in the film as quick and decisive; none of it fetishized or overextended. In fact, the film only has half a gunfight and a single chase sequence. Even when it looks like a gunfight is about to begin with a Michael Bay-esque chase sequence, it devolves into one man taking potshots at another in the idyllic streets of Bruges.
McDonagh brings great pathos to what initially seems like a fluffy romp through the U.K. crime genre. Unadorned with cynicism and buoyed by a pitch-perfect performance from Farrell, In Bruges is a joy to watch.
