With my tenth pick in the Shelter in Place Alphabet Movie Draft, I will make use of the letter
I to select:
In Bruges (2008):
Director(s): Martin McDonagh
Dir. of Photography: Eigil Bryld
Writer: Martin McDonagh
Score: Carter Burwell
Cast: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph, Fiennes, Clémence Poésy, Ciarán Hinds
Genre(s): Crime, comedy, drama
Runtime: 1 hour, 47 minutes
IMDb Entry:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780536/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
Irish director Martin McDonagh's debut film is an absolute classic of its decade, an unheralded masterpiece that lovingly and cheekily refreshes the hitman genre.
Set in the picturesque Belgian town of Bruges, it features a heart-rending and imaginatively-written story about two hitmen forced to lay low after the younger of them commits a particularly egregious error on a job. The idyllic setting, with all its quaint and medieval charm, sits at a stark contrast with the embittering darkness that lies at the film's center. But it is an absolute credit to McDonagh that this is not a film that luxuriates in despair. Rather,
In Bruges possesses an almost fable-like quality in its pursuit of hope, for an opportunity for redemption when the human soul seems so unworthy of its own salvation. Seldom does a viewer happen upon a directorial debut this brilliant. And this beautiful.
In Bruges was gorgeously shot by renowned Danish cinematographer Eigil Bryld. His lens graces across Bruges with such painterly verve, and it really underscores the ugly nature of the characters being depicted on screen that their fate should land them in a place that seems so untouched by the evil deeds of men.
As disgraced hitman Ray, Colin Farrell has never been better, never been this tortured and vulnerable. The viewer does not expect to sympathize with his character once it is revealed what he has done to earn banishment to Bruges, yet Farrell imbues Ray with such pathos that it's impossible to look away or to feel disgust. And the writing is so strong to recognize how guilt can reduce us to our most elementally human state. Ray does not attempt to explain away his sins, to rationalize them or justify them. He acknowledges them, and acknowledges his depression, and the resultant flirtation with suicide, as a thing deserved. And Farrell's partnership with the wry and empathetic Brendan Gleeson, who plays the elder hitman Ken, is representative of the best odd couple energy this side of Riggs-and-Murtaugh. Their exceptional performances and palpable chemistry are only overshadowed when Ralph Fiennes appears on-screen to steal every scene he's in with foul-mouthed vigor.
It's worth mentioning that
In Bruges is riotously funny! The script was labored over to achieve its comedy of the absurd, its laughter in the face of tragedy, and unlike with most films, McDonagh ultimately did not alter a word of that script during rehearsals. On his process, McDonagh notes, "With
In Bruges, we had three weeks of rehearsal at the start, which was pretty much just [Brendan Gleeson,] Colin Farrell and me in a room in Bruges, just analyzing the script, talking and reading it through and acting out little scenes, talking about the histories of the characters: how they met, were they related. [It was] a pretty intense amount of work which meant by the first day of shooting there weren't any questions we needed to ask of each other, we just went ahead and filmed everything that we'd learnt."
The intimacy of those rehearsals is reflected in the film that appears on screen, where character is prized about all else, where dialogue is given the space to reveal the characters to the audience, and for the characters to reveal themselves to each other. And it must be said that
In Bruges features some of the most firecracker dialogue this side of Quentin Tarantino. It is an eminently quotable movie, the kind of small, delightful film that you're desperate to share with a few important people in your life and then endlessly recite back to each other in the oddest and most unexpected of moments. The dialogue becomes a part of your life, to the point where you might forget for a brief moment the source material because of how natural the words feel in your mouth, a testament to an assured hand in McDonagh and capable actors who convince the audience to
feel for their plight.
As Ray says, "At least in prison and at least in death, you know, I wouldn't be in f***ing Bruges. But then, like a flash, it came to me. And I realized, f*** man, maybe that's what hell is: the entire rest of eternity spent in f***ing Bruges."
