Review: In Bruges
(Originally reviewed in 2012)
In Bruges is one of the darkest comedies I’ve ever seen, thankfully it’s also one of the funniest. The sharp writing, great acting and extremely un-P.C. humour all make it one of my all-time favourites.
In terms of the acting, Colin Farrell is at his best here as Ray, a childish hit-man that’s been forced to escape Britain after he accidentally killed a little boy during a job. Farrell does an absolutely brilliant job here with most of his acting coming from just his eyes. He starts off bored of Bruges then he gets sad whenever he’s reminded of his mistake. It isn’t until he sees the midgets being filmed that he lights up with childlike abandon and it’s this juvenile attitude that makes him so endearing.
The rest of the cast is also amazing, Brendon Gleeson is great as the calm Ken, he acts as a father figure to Ray and looks after him through his dark times. Ralph Fiennes channels Ben Kingsley as the psychotic cockney Harry, brilliantly though Harry still has a sense of honour and doesn’t kill a pregnant woman whereas a lot of other maniacs would’ve. Jordan Prentice almost steals the show as American midget Jimmy, a film actor, horse tranquilizer user and racist. His talk about the upcoming war between the whites and the Blacks/Half-casts/Pakistanis/Vietnamese is absolutely brilliant. And the beautiful Clemence Poesy is adorably edgy as drug-dealer Chloe, she and Ray have great chemistry together and their first date where they’re honest to each other and joke about their illegal professions is hilarious and sweet.
The story is a typical Fish-out-of-water story but it works because no-one had even heard of Bruges until this film and the sharp writing and great cast raise this above and beyond the usual film. McDonagh’s poetic swearing is one of the film’s many charms and in fact there hasn’t been cursing this great since the aforementioned Sexy beast. But also the humour is brilliantly un-P.C. and it knows it with its frequent mentions of ‘Midgets’ and ‘Gays’ and ‘Retards’, none of it is offensive though because everything is up for ridicule, nothing is singled out.
The film does get pretty dark in the third act - although it does give one of the best deaths scenes in film and Ken’s P.O.V. shot of falling down the tower takes my breath away every time – and on first viewings this can be quite unnerving but on repeated viewings it does fit the film rather well and the ambiguous ending allows the audience to look back at the talks of hell and purgatory and make their own conclusion.
In summary, a wonderfully dark comedy with a great cast and pin sharp dialogue. Definitely recommended.
8.5/10