"In Bruges", get in the mood of one of the most unforgettable cinematic trips ...

Rating: 10/10 (21 April 2011)

What a fantastic 'little' movie and I mean no disrespect by using the epithetic 'little'. In fact, it's a word that conveys extremely well the charm of this film, set in a small town in Belgium, Bruges, one of the unlikeliest but cleverest settings of a crime film.
Even the title couldn't have been more eloquent, since the whole point of the film is that two Irish hit men are basically spending time "In Bruges", waiting for their boss' instructions after a botched job. While one of the two protagonists, Brendan Gleeson as the calm and moderate Ken, takes the opportunity to do the most normal thing we would do in a touristic place, his younger partner and friend, Ray, Colin Farrell, more free-spirited and tormented, impatiently thinks of leaving the town.
There's a melancholic feeling inhabiting the first part of the film, as if we're waiting for something to happen "In Bruges", the action takes its time ... but that didn't bother me at all. The pacing's slowness gives us enough time to follow the characters and understand their personalities, and in the specific case of Ray: the big trauma that tortures his mind, and might have something to do with their 'waiting' in Bruges. And as the film progresses, you realize that Ray's pain reveals another one, even subtler, hidden in Ken's heart. It's a film with an unexpected depth that doesn't distract from the whole comedic atmosphere and reveals what is for me, one of the best written scripts of the last decade. Actually, I still wonder if I saw a black humor comedy or a light-hearted drama, but in both cases, I know I've seen one of the most unconventionally original films which is hard not to review without sounding like a pompous critic.
So ... what I loved the most about "In Bruges" is this little universe it created, something very distinctive that I can't compare with any other film. A unique atmosphere where tourists, actors, thieves, prostitutes meet together and discuss everyday or futile matters like we do in real-life, when we go visit a foreign place. It's a cinematic melting-pot made of curiosity, discovery and knowledge, creating a supplementary delight while watching the film, as if the town was a character we learn about it, too. And that's how the movie works first, as a comedic medley of all the intriguing and entertaining situations we face while visiting a foreign country, something that gives the impression of an episodic and non-linear story, but the power of the script is that all these situations evolve crescendo and then finally combine for a totally satisfying and gripping climax, even more gripping because it took time to come to this situation. Where the official antagonist appears, Ralph Fiennes as Harry, the boss with some serious anger management's problem, we know we are getting closer to a memorable shootout, and a movie as original as "In Bruges" couldn't have disappointed.
But I don't want to spoil anything from that movie, just to say that the performances from Gleeson, Farrell and Fiennes, are absolutely amazing, and convincing in their mix of goofy seriousness and melancholic depth. In many moments all through the film, especially in the scenes featuring Ken and Ray, you never cease to feel extreme empathy for these people whose presence in Bruges seems to serve a purpose that goes beyond the mission, as if it meant something even deeper, strangely deeper, they can't even figure what  as if Bruges was in the crossroads of these fates where something new was going to explode from these cocktails of feelings, of traumas and repressions, like those kind of holidays where we do change, from redemption or alienation, or both  but this is not a movie to over-analyze. The intellectual approach is smoothly invited near the ending when we collect the right pieces of the puzzle, and wait for us to find the last, the most precious piece, which still relies on the central character's soul, Ray.
Ray is not necessarily deeper than Ken, and at many points, Ken is the most likely to get our sympathy, but what makes Ray more interesting is the way he's highlighted and foiled by the people he meets. Ray makes us encounter strange and unforgettable characters in a way that seems to go nowhere, like the very trip in a random place named Bruges, and the greatness of that film, is to make you wait until the end before you realize, they couldn't have chosen a better place to live this adventure. In Bruges, as the quintessential charm of the apparent insignificance which offers the best setting to explore our lives' own insignificance until the ultimate realization, that some things must change. Damn, whenever I try to praise the comedy, I end up talking about a drama.
Indeed, "In Bruges" seems to be more a lighthearted drama that transcends the dramatic element and translate it into something so deeply funny, that you're never quite sure if you should laugh or cry, but why hesitating, the barrier between the two is so tight, you can go back and forth from one emotion to another without feeling any emotional jet-lag. And like the story, the emotions provided gets more and more intriguing and disturbing until they culminate in a tower where comedy thrones hand in hand with the psychological thriller in a bloody honeymoon, in a small town, named Bruges
Bruges finally put in the Belgian map, in Belgium, the country that "Man Bites Dog", another masterpiece of Black Comedy, put in the map too  Bruges as the crossroads of destinies, or dead-end, or both  Bruges as the town, we hate so much, we just can't live in, but can't leave it either