Must-see

Rating: 9/10 (19 October 2008)

Absolutely superb film and so multi-layered. On one level it's a crime thriller - at another, a morality play and yet another, an awfully funny (in parts) black comedy. And yet it's even more than that. Sumptuously filmed in Bruges, nothing is wasted in this intricately crafted plot. Nothing that is introduced is irrelevant to the whole story - including the dwarf and the film set. And for a while I was wondering the significance of this, yet it all comes together at the end, which in itself played like a dream sequence. The fulcrum around which the whole movie revolves - the death of a young boy during a hit, is introduced subtly. And then the acting is equally superb. Everyone excels. The only slightly false note is played at the end which is why I give it a 9 but that is a minor quibble in this thought-provoking masterpiece I can happily see again.