Simultaneously hilarious and depressing

Rating: 10/10 (10 February 2018)

In Bruges is the story of two British hitmen lying low in Bruges, Belgium after an assassination goes wrong. This movie is a perfect balance of comedy and depression. Martin Mcdonough seamlessly transitions from heavy subjects like child murder, and suicide, to goofs and gags and fat Americans. Several scenes are simultaneously heartbreaking and hilarious. There is also a masterful handling of reincorporation that is quite reminiscent of Hot Fuzz. There were several scenes in this movie that seemed to just be one-off jokes, but eventually affected the plot and characters in profound ways later on. The characters were all very distinct and fleshed out, and it's been a long time since I genuinely cared about fictional people so much. The plot is absolutely one hundred percent pitch perfect. It is meticulously balanced on the scale of unpredictability and poetic beauty. On the far left of this scale lies something like Game of Thrones, where main characters are killed left and right with no satisfying conclusion to their arch. On the far right is Star Wars, where the story is neat and satisfying, but anyone who has seen a movie in their life knows exactly what will happen ten minutes in. In Bruges is somehow far left and far right at the same time. The plot twists and turns in unexpected ways, and it doesn't stop until the very end. Yet, in the midst of this untidy anarchistic plot, a clear lesson and meaning still arises.