The Profundity of Banality vs. the Banality of Profundity

Rating: 4/10 (10 February 2008)

It has been my lot in life to know -- at least to the extent of taking part in conversations with -- three and a half hit men: two definitely and three who might have been killers for hire. None of them were possessed, so far as I could judge, of any great sense of moral angst, existential anguish or philosophic underpinnings to their professions, even to the extent of the 'Get 'er Done' attitude of Larry the Cable Guy. Instead they struck me as thugs who were at times gigglingly happy that people would pay them money for something they gladly did for any or no reason whatsoever.
One of them was reputed to have killed his own mother by bashing her head repeatedly against a radiator -- perhaps she was not the most lovable of women. The others struck me as not much more entertaining, despite the fascinating lines of white powder they put on the table for the use of the ladies. None were possessed of the ability to quote Apocrypha at length, discourse on the shmoo or hew to moral precepts at appropriate moments. Indeed, the most accurate depiction of the type may have been Alan Ladd's turn in THIS GUN FOR HIRE: asked how he felt when he kills someone, he replies fiercely and blankly "I feel fine."
I mention this at the start because IN BRUGES accepts at face value certain assumptions that have become rampant since Quentin Tarrantino got PULP FICTION released. In this movie we have what could have been a black comedy, except that only Ralph Fiennes and Peter Dinklage seem to think it is one. Colin Farrell plays a character similar to his recent turn in CASSANDRA'S DREAM, except that he shows his range by assuming an Irish accent, and Brendan Gleeson adds some weight -- no pun intended -- and kills any comedy by his serious and excellent acting. Bruges is very photogenic in obvious ways -- the only other time I have seen this city in a movie was one of Leonce Perret's endless tableaux epics about lace makers filmed about 95 years ago.
The net result is a movie that you enjoy when you are watching it, until you go outside and think about it. All of them wind up dead? Good to hear. Except that in the real world, they don't.
It would be all too easy to accept this as a great picture based on its track record: a fine cast, a writer-director who just won an Oscar for best short subject, excellent cinematography and so on. But looking at the heart of it, you should see its intellectual and artistic laziness, its acceptance of false assumptions because they enable the creator to gloss over its vacuity with fine words. But it does not use its assumptions to challenge us in any way, except to try to convince us that vicious, uncaring murderers are people just like you and me. Well, they aren't like me, and I know the difference. I hope that you do too.