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Saturday October 4th In BRUGES (18 cert)
Newcomer McDonagh’s film is one that didn’t really find its audience on its limited cinema release. A violent but hilarious gangster flick set in the unlikely location of the medieval Belgian city, it is a winning combination of laugh out loud humour, intrigue and bizarre plot developments, and a consideration of loneliness and atonement lending real pathos and richness. Irish hitmen Ray and Ken (Farrell and Gleeson) are sent to Bruges one Christmas to lie low following a botched job back home. It’s like a fairy-tale, they are reassured, a perfect place to hide and await the wrath of the malevolent boss, Harry (Fiennes). So our heroes take in some of the scenery, get embroiled with some of the locals, and try to avoid the inevitable confrontation with Harry. Meanwhile Ray, a lapsed Catholic, is attempting to deal with the moral consequences of his actions, his guilt not helped by lashings of Christian Christmas ritual. Much of the comedy comes from the combination of the two leads, and their differing responses to their predicament – one man’s medieval cultural oasis is, it turns out, another man’s s****hole – and the interplay between them provides a mix of comedy and pathos that consistently hits the spot. On an ironic note, the film has been hailed by the city itself – in spite of the fact that Bruges is the butt of many a joke, the tourist board is thrilled and has produced an In Bruges movie map, should any of you be planning a city break in the near future.
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Belgium,
2008Directed by Martin McDonagh, Starring Colin
Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, 107 mins