In Bruges (2008)-Oliver X.
In Bruges (2008)
By Oliver X.
Famous for his dark-hued Irish plays penned in the nineties (The Pillowman and Broadway-bound The Lieutenant of Inishmore), writer-director Martin McDonagh, 2006 Oscar-winner for Best Live Action Short for Six Shooter (2004), makes an exuberant feature debut in his gangster buddy film In Bruges. Set in the sleepy, meticulously preserved medieval port city of Bruges in Belgium’s western low country, McDonagh elicits a breakout performance by Colin Farrell as Ray, a guilt-ridden hit man just off his first job, anxiously awaiting further instructions with weathered sidekick Ken, played with measured understatement by Brandon Gleeson (Gangs of New York). The two have been dispatched to the godforsaken, canal covered tourist hamlet and told to sit tight and wait for a call from their boss Harry (played by a hilarious Ralph Fiennes).
The compressed situational humor is generated by McDonagh’s insider knowledge that (despite its waffles, chocolate and fruit flavored beer) Belgian culture is Europe’s longest running Polish joke. When told early on that he’s the world’s worst tourist by the older, more refined Ken, Farrell’s Ray quips, "If I grew up on a farm and was retarded, Bruges might impress me. But I didn’t, so it doesn’t."
Making up for a flaccid, homoerotic mess in Alexander, Farrell’s facial contortions and comically inflected intonations imbue Ray with a nervously impatient flippancy that makes McDonagh’s dialogue crackle and prick with a Mamet-meets-Tarantino-esque hyper banter. But while Mamet’s dialogue is purposefully metered and stilted, as if to invite the warts of live theater to the cinema, McDonagh’s thespian devices celebrate the musicality and absurdity of repetitive speech, allowing the actors to play timing-off-of-tone to remarkably authentic effect.
Copyright C. 2008 Oliver X.