![]() |
Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farell excel in hitman comedy In Bruges |
Director: Martin McDonagh
Cast: Colin Farrell (Ray), Brendan Gleeson (Ken Daley),
Ralph Fiennes (Harry Waters), Clémence Poésy (Chloë Villette), Jordan Prentice
(Jimmy), Thekla Reuten (Marie), Jérémie Renier (Elrik), Anna Madeley (Denise),
Elizabeth Berrington (Natalie Walters), Eric Godon (Yuri), Željiko Ivanek
(Canadian)
Who hasn’t been dragged somewhere for sightseeing and
culture, and longed to be somewhere else (anywhere else?). Most of us right? So
how many of us are hitmen hiding out after a job gone wrong? Probably not that
many (I hope!). It’s this mixture of the everyday and the bizarre that Martin
McDonagh nails so well in his debut film, a sharp as nails, laugh-out-loud but
also moving piece of work, possibly one of the sharpest written, well-made debut
films you’ll find.
Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) have been sent
to Bruges to hide out for a few weeks after a job gone horribly wrong in
Dublin. Ken is fascinated by the city, its culture and buildings and
enthusiastically buys a guide book. Ray responds like a surly, miserable kid
and is desperately unimpressed with everything he sees. Their long weekend in
the city becomes increasingly unusual and dangerous as they encounter angry
tourists, a racist dwarf (Jordan Prentice) and a drug-dealing film assistant
(Clémence Poésy), and dodge the rage of their boss Harry Waters (Ralph
Fiennes).
In Bruges is a
hilarious piece of film-making, with every scene featuring some moment of black
humour, wry observation or un-PC laugh-out-loud comedy. It’s foul-mouthed,
sometimes violent, very rude – but also deals with profound feelings of guilt
and regret with a real humanity. McDonagh’s work expertly combines jet black
comedy, with a warmth for its deeply flawed characters. It’s got a compelling,
masterful story that packs character development, incident and intricate plot
threads together with assured expertise.
McDonagh’s gift is to make you relate for all of these
characters, all of whom are made to feel very real and human. It skilfully leads
you to overlook their many flaws and embrace them as people. It says a lot that
the most sympathetic, likeable person in the film is a multiple murderer with
an (implied) cocaine habit. Everything we learn or see about the characters is
designed to make us understand and relate to them more.
Ray initially seems little more than a foul-mouthed thug.
But as the film progress – and thanks to Colin Farrell’s masterful performance
of brashness covering deep insecurity and vulnerability – we learn he is a
rather sweet, even loving man who has stumbled into a career he is deeply
unsuited to. Farrell gets these switches perfectly – and his childishness is
hugely endearing. From stropping around like a sulky teenager to bouncing up to
a film shoot with a childish, excited shriek of joy, he defies expectations.
McDonagh throws in a perfect note of tragedy once we find out the mistake Ray
made – and suddenly Farrell’s performance overflows with guilt, self-loathing
and an unbearable regret that makes you re-evaluate everything you’ve seen him
do.
But then that is the whole film right there: it makes you
laugh uproariously, then chucks you a curveball and before you know it you are
hugely emotionally invested, with a huge sense of empathy for their slowly
revealed depths. That goes for every character – even the nominal villains have
a sadness, or a firm set of principles, or a certain dignity to them that makes
you care. It’s a brilliant piece of writing and directing – and masterfully
acted.
Brendan Gleeson plays the other lead in Ken: and few other
actors could surely have managed to turn Ken into such a warm avuncular figure,
a gentle giant who feels he has come to terms with his choice of career but
experiences a subtle shift over the course of the film. Gleeson’s performance
is sublime, warm and witty with a careful thread of sadness underneath it – it’s
some of his best work.
But then the whole cast is great. Prentice’s bitterness as
the angry Jimmy is brilliant – and he is very funny – while Poésy’s gentle
bad-girl is a terrific, radiant performance. The film also has third act
dynamite with Ralph Fiennes’ Harry Waters, a foul-mouthed, furiously angry,
tour-de-force character who shakes up the whole film – but who has a strange
sense of nobility about him, even while he is (hilariously) effing and blinding
left, right and centre.
And the film has a brilliantly anti-PC vein of humour. Jokes
about drug-taking and dwarves. Foul-mouthed gags about every subject under the
sun. Brilliant encounters with “large” American tourists (brilliantly paid off
later in the film), jobsworth ticket sellers, angry tourists in restaurants –
the film is crammed with hilarious moments. All of it is brilliantly funny
because it comes naturally out of characters who feel real.
It’s also so thematically rich. As the characters stand in
front of Hieronymus Bosch’s The Last
Judgement, you realise that the entire film is a metaphor for purgatory,
with Bruges’ medieval beauty carefully chosen to reflect this. Our heroes,
laden down with sins, wait in Bruges for an unspecified length of time to
discover where they will head next. Amends have to be paid, sins have to be
reconciled – and all these threads come together brilliantly in a final,
dream-like sequence that you suddenly realise the whole film has been carefully
building towards from the start.
So the film, after a scabrous, brilliantly hilarious, darkly
foul-mouthed start, slowly becomes something which (while still hilarious) is
also a discussion of morality, principles and guilt. We see characters do
things we might never have imagined them doing at the start, some are redeemed,
others make principled decisions. And it’s really funny. I’m not sure Colin
Farrell or Brendan Gleeson will ever be better than they are here. It’s a
brilliant play script turned into a wonderful film. A classic.
No comments:
Post a comment