Assassins on Vacation: ‘In Bruges’
The Bruges Chamber of Commerce was probably delighted with at least part of Martin McDonagh’s 2008 debut film In Bruges, as it delivers a ravishing viewpoint on this gorgeous Belgian town that appears to have been dropped into the 21st century from a fairy-tale version of the Middle Ages. It’s likely that, after seeing this film, a good number of people headed straight to the little jewel box of a medieval village, all canals and pristinely preserved Gothic architecture. Local boosters were certainly less taken, though, with most of what happens in this dark-as-night comedy, in which a pair of hitmen hiding out in the town spend their time arguing over whether or not the town is, in fact, “a shithole.” Later on, the guns come out, large quantities of blood are spilled, and a story that had been weaving a fairy-tale ambiance turns into a wholly different kind of fairy tale — one that doesn’t cater to tourists.
Writer/director McDonagh had dabbled in fairy tales before, in his grimly funny and ultraviolent stage plays like The Pillowman, which knocked Broadway audiences for a loop back in 2005 with its mix of bloody, Grimm-like Germanic storytelling and anonymous, Kafkaesque modernity. In Bruges was a departure in some sense for McDonagh, more in keeping with the potboiler aspect to his later plays, like the crackerjack dark comedy Hangmen, which had a sold-out West End run and was also picked up for digital broadcast in spring 2016.
For In Bruges, a knockdown and cockeyed comedy of violence, McDonagh’s knack for profane humor kicks into overdrive right from the very start. His Odd Couple of Irish hitmen are sent on the lam, yammering each other’s heads off right from the get-go. Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) arrive at a charming little bed and breakfast in Bruges (pronounced by all the English speakers in the film as “brooshz”). Ray is all twitches and elbows, supremely uncomfortable in this village that’s the definition of “quaint,” continually nonplussed by the jaw-dropping architectural beauty on display everywhere he looks. Ken is the more seasoned of the two, a hulking and squash-faced type who is endlessly enthralled by everything he sees, dragging Ray along on tourist outings like they were an old married couple.
McDonagh is content to amble along with these two. They’ve got nowhere to go — they’ve been sent to Bruges to lay low after a job by their boss back in England, Harry, and wait for his call — so the film lets the ravishing town (captured with pristine clarity by cinematographer Eigil Bryld) paint in what little space there is left between Farrell and Gleeson’s sharp, snarky banter. It’s no surprise that Gleeson proves so adept in this delicate balance of comedy (he’s not an actor one is ever disappointed by) but his talents are no less appreciated here. Farrell, however, is something of a revelation. He’s an actor who showed great promise years back but who spent too many years submerging his considerable charm in overproduced vehicles like Miami Vice and (shudder) Alexander. With In Bruges, though, Farrell’s daft wit shines through like a spotlight, playing Ray with a winning mix of bloke-like common sense and affectingly vulnerable childishness.
There is quite a bit more to In Bruges than these hitmen nattering on about the town and their comic interactions with locals, ranging from charming drug dealers to a dwarf American actor, and it’s in Ray’s occasional bursts of frightful sadness that it starts to come out. McDonagh starts teasing away the layers to the characters’ pasts, the real reasons why they’ve come to Bruges, and the judgment that awaits once they get that call from Harry. When Ralph Fiennes appears as Harry, it’s as though he’s swallowed the soul of Ben Kingsley’s Don Logan from Sexy Beast and added a dash more psychotic fury. He very nearly takes over the film, turning what had been a comfortable two-hander into a three-way fight to the death.
The film’s sharp turn into suspense and tragedy comes as a surprise, the story’s pitch-black underpinnings hidden by the banter that’s helping these lost men keep their helplessness at bay. McDonagh’s start as a filmmaker was promising if occasionally rough. The final confrontation that rages through the postcard streets of Bruges is sorely over-choreographed and too lengthy, as was much of McDonagh’s 2012 follow-up Seven Psychopaths. But In Bruges remains a strong, resonant, and gaspingly funny debut, that hopefully augers greater work to come.
A version of this article was originally published at filmcritic.com
Title: In Bruges
Director: Martin McDonagh
Writer: Martin McDonagh
Cast: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Clémence Poésy, Thekla Reuten, Jordan Prentice, Elizabeth Berrington, Jérémie Renier, Željko Ivanek
Studio: Focus Features
Year of release: 2008
Rating: R
Web site: http://www.focusfeatures.com/in_bruges
