non-conventional thought provoking with no moral barriers

Rating: 10/10 (16 June 2008)

in quick sentence regarding the plot, this is the story of a man finding it hard to live with himself. at core it is a story about redemption.it is unique in its artistic form, truly emotional and thought revolting.if you are looking for anti-hero characters search no more, you will certainly find those here. i give credits to Martin McDonagh for an excellent direction that combines art( in many forms and dialogs) with absolute reality as how it is perceived or interpreted. the feature contains many rude "jokes" and even racism, BUT towards making points that are entirely valid in order to reflect deep sadness or depression for example, rarely seen on the silver screen this days( as of not just going after your emotions as for you to think you "like" the movie , but instead for making sure that you will be able to analyze and reflect on your own personal thoughts on certain universal life related problems and/or possible solutions/interpretations).also i am sure that this movie will suffer tons of criticism but that is exactly what makes it special in a true sense; it teaches without preaching, and that alone, for me is a great achievement in being able to understand reality as being perceived from different points of view, other then my own.
the above comments are intended for anyone watching the movie entirely; i say this because the introduction is quiet slow but has the point as in making the human mind relax first,as well as normalize the viewer and character's relations to each other. soon after the central character "Ray" will intrigue you enough at least to keep your attention and ask your own questions.however after about 30 minutes the plot reveals itself and the "wachy" scenes are more and more interesting. the park scene comes to mind as well as the hotel one involving "hookers" and racist "midget". situations were you can not be sure which sides has less "evil", something as "you do not choose the sides, the sides choose you"...?i think that upholding skin color equality comes before upholding the "height" ones, feel free to disagree...also take the restaurant scene as well with the Canadian guy played by Zeljko Ivanek. as a Canadian myself, to me that scene is absolutely hilarious.(as regarding our "wacky" smoking "regulations" we have in Ontario at least.)as a matter a fact there are quiet a few takes on how north Americans and Europeans perceive each other.as a viewer you will be inclined to pick a side to the "argument" no matter what your "common sense" political correctness might "dictate".
i was impressed with Colin Farrell performance here( note that Brendan Gleeson is great as well but the character is "secondary"). note that i used to completely disliked this actor , considering him a "porno" face(where he actually started his career) and as well for such bad performances as in "s.w.at" or "alexander"(where the plot really did not help his cause either). on "miami vice" i started thinking that i might had been wrong in my judgment, and after watching this one i realized i certainly been so indeed.Anna Madeley and Clémence Poésy's characters are very sweet and so much "down to earth" even if their good lucks enhance the visuals but undermine the conclusions...
Ralph Fiennes as harry, the "mob" boss, has only a few scenes but very very entertaining ones! as a small example, seeing an Uzi submachine gun on the merchandise table;"an Uzi? i am not from south central Los fu... Angeles.i did not come here to kill 20 black 10-year-olds in a fu... drive-by.i want a normal gun for a normal person" as about how normal his character is remains open for interpretation))).
from the very first scene i noticed that the soundtrack contributes greatly towards an excellent mood defining aspect. while somehow too "standard" for its score choices in this feature's genre, it is very efficient in creating an intense "calm" mood in general, required for rational thinking, based and in accordance with what the visual shows to the viewer.