IN BRUGES is an excellent example of how an original and brilliant narrative can be undermined by over-performance of an actor.

Rating: 6/10 (29 December 2015)

The plot is very well constructed, containing essential elements of both tragedy and comedy, a mixture resulting in a surprising acidity. The characters are driven, surrounded by the dream city of Bruges, through psychological conflicts both funny and desperate.
However, IN BRUGES is an excellent example of how an original and brilliant narrative can be undermined by over-performance of an actor.
Absolutely flawless interpretation of Ralph Fiennes in the role of Harry. Fiennes is a rare actor with stunning versatility, able to transform in both aberrant Amon Goeth (Schindler's List) as the innocent Justin Quayle (The Constant Gardener). Harry is no exception: Fiennes embodies with incredible easiness the surgical brutality of the character, capturing his private moral principles with naturally. This adds a fundamental coherence to the outcome of the film (anagnorisis +peripeteia), without which, no doubt, all the work would collapse.
The exact opposite can be said about Colin Farrell performance. A desperate attempt to add a childish innocence to the character overrides his likelihood. In other words, an exaggerated performance, inconsistent with the sobriety of Fiennes and Brendan Gleeson (probably a view shared solely by this writing, considering the Golden Globes received by that performance).
I believe that the work of Farrell, data venia, weighed in the assessment, belittling, by contrast, an excellent narrative.