By Dan Benamor
Staff writer
In Bruges wants to have its cake and eat it, too – the film wants to be goofy but also serious, funny but also dramatic. Original? Undoubtedly. Believable? Not so much. Entertaining? Kinda.
In Bruges tells the story of Ray (Colin Farrell, Cassandra’s Dream) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson, Beowulf), two hit men who, after their last hit, hide in the city of Bruges and await commands from their boss. Unfortunately, this last hit didn’t go quite as swimmingly as boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) would have liked. Soon enough, there’s hell to pay.
Believe it or not, the film holds a surprising number of laughs – both In Bruges’s strength and its weakness. Some of the film’s funniest scenes are also so strange they detract from any sense of reality; in fact, the entire role of Jimmy (Jordan Prentice, American Pie Presents: Beta House), a midget in Bruges to film a scene for a film, qualifies as such. Over the course of the film, Jimmy fraternizes with cocaine, a horse tranquilizer and a prostitute, all in very weird sequences.
In a conference call with The Diamondback, writer-director Martin McDonagh (who won an Oscar for his short film Six Shooter) and Farrell discussed the film’s mix of humor and drama.
“You gotta laugh at certain dark things in life, I think,” McDonagh said. “We’re laughing and not ignoring the despair.”
Farrell echoed of the film, “I’ve never come across something that’s … so unusual and so unique.”
It is In Bruges’s talented cast that keeps the film grounded in reality. Farrell and Gleeson are both very capable dramatic performers, and they’re effective, given the film’s unexpected circumstances and plot twists.
“There’s kind of a … heightened reality about the way they spoke and the way they interacted,” Farrell said of his and Gleeson’s characters. “It was a great departure for me.”
And Farrell’s right – this is the most dynamic, expressive and funny he has ever been. Fiennes is also particularly engaging as the strangely sensitive control freak Harry, who walks around with an Ebenezer Scrooge-like look on his face at all times.
Most of Carter Burwell’s (Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead) score, save for the haunting chase music at the end, is emblematic of the picture as a whole. While a lot of the action on-screen seems like a black comedy, the score drops in tenderly; something more off-beat would have fit better.
In general, the whole film seems to struggle between its comic momentum and its serious side. With a little more discipline, Bruges’s dramatic elements might have worked, especially as McDonagh’s dramatic setups are excellent. However, they turn out ineffective because the characters are amusing but not relatable – as a result, a number of potentially dramatic moments are rendered flat.
The film also indulges in inexcusable and cheap Hollywood-movie logic – such as when a character can survive numerous death-deserving accidents and the right people always show up at the right time.
And unfortunately, McDonagh’s visuals are mostly perfunctory, save for some gorgeous nighttime shots as steam swirls up through the streets of Bruges. In Bruges isn’t bad, per se, but it isn’t great, either. The jokes keep coming enough to offset the unsuccessful attempts at drama, and McDonagh is definitely an original voice – In Bruges just isn’t his masterpiece.
dan.benamor@gmail.com
RATING: 3 STARS OUT OF 5
