In Bruges
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Movie Reviews of In Bruges
Movie Review: Read but disregard the 1 stars
Summary: 5 Stars
I took the time to read the 1 star reviews and most are just missing the point or expected an entirely different movie so they give it 1 star for their mistake and not for the kind of movie it is. Come on. At the time of this review there were 104, 5 star and 16, 1 star reviews? Do the math.
Basic storyline:
2 Hitmen are instructed to go to "F-ing Bruges" Belgium in order to await further instructions after a hit by Colin Farrell goes wrong. In the contract hit, killing a Priest, a bullet passing through the Priest kills a boy and Colin's character is having trouble coming to terms with it. While they await further instructions from thier boss (Ralph Fiennes)in Bruges, the older hitman (Brendan Gleeson) wants to sightsee and Colin is having no part of it. To make matters worse, Colin is slowly becoming suicidal, Harry (The boss) wants him dead but Ken (Gleeson) wants to give Colin a second chance forcing Harry to come to Bruges and settle the score himself.
Add in a little romance story with Colin and a local drug dealer, a dwarf actor (Jordan Prentice) that hates his job ("The're making a movie with midgets!") who is the butt of a few jokes and a few other interesting supporting characters made me really enjoy this.
Jokes in this movie may have seemed to make fun of specific nationalities or..midgets/dwarfs but you have to be able to see the humor in it or you won't enjoy it.
Americans: They do NOT make fun of Americans for being fat. They try to tell the fat man the tower is narrow and long and he might not want to go up the bell tower. He was trying to help not make fun. Colin's character can be crass but he was right.
Midget/Dwarf: They didn't know him at first in the movie so I felt the comments/observations were the kind you make before you get to know someone. Once they got to know the guy, the laughing at him being in a school boy's outfit was more funny because they were messing with someone they now know better.
People are far too sensative these days and it's just a movie. This is not a fast paced action film. It's a smart, thinking movie with more than 2-3 interesting characters and more going on than shootouts and chases.
I give it 4-5 stars.
Movie Review: Hilariously dark, wry, gorgeously shot paean to Bruges
Summary: 5 Stars
4.6 stars
Some movies just grab me from moment one and never let up. It's a rare delight, but I watch films for precisely these experiences, and In Bruges delivers the goods in spades. McDonagh's script cracked me up time and again with its dark, harsh humor constantly leavened by weirdly tender moments, and his beautiful direction brings Bruges to life in a very odd yet very wonder-full way.
I love that city and have spent some very fine days wandering its cobbled streets and gazing in awe at endless gingerbread vistas out of the 12th and later centuries, and this film takes full advantage of it all. McDonagh had a flash of genius when he set this twisted little gangster tale there, as the contrast and emotional chiaroscuro of the plot dovetails perfectly with the elegant, ancient perfections of Bruges.
But what makes this all come alive are the flawless performances of Gleeson and especially Farrell, who I think delivers one of the funniest turns I've seen on celluloid in many years. I laughed myself silly at some of his lines here. You definitely have to enjoy Irish humor and be able to decipher the thick brogues, but if you do and can you will be amply rewarded. There are some outrageously fresh bits, and when Fiennes shows up it all shifts into overdrive and can't be stopped.
There is endless "bad" language, lots of f's and c's to go around, but that along with the occasional violence somehow seems perfectly apt and never gratuitous. This is both a comedy and a drama but somehow not a dramedy. Perhaps a comma? In any case (dative or what have you), In Bruges worked on every level for me, even the romance. Poesy is perfect with Farrell and their romance is strangely believable, mainly due to her almost slapstick gazes of love. And the deliciously ironic ending has to be seen to be semi-disbelieved.
There was nothing that I didn't like about this film...only that it finally ended.
Here's hoping for many more in this vein from the fertile mind and perfectly panoramic eye of Martin McDonagh.
Movie Review: Like an Irish wake
Summary: 5 Stars
I have never been to an Irish wake, but I have a stereotype in my head that probably helped this film to work for me. In my stereotype there is a charming and endearing mixture of jolly disorder and tragedy, emotional twists from angry conflict to affection and back, mixed and even screwy personalities, and wandering minds. Some may need to think of this as an ethnic film to fully appreciate it.
The heavy accents were hard to follow, but if I try to imagine this in American English, it just would not have worked for me. Why not? -- I am sure others will itemize the various improbabilities here and there in the film. Yes there were a lot of "coincidences." Yes there could have been less blood and gore." Perhaps there was not much moral point to the film -- except that if you notice it did deal with compassion and honor among people probably very different from most viewers. And, how could anyone keep moving with all those bullets in them. Yes, yes. Need I go on? You might want to try to think of this as a subtle fantasy in a photogenic city -- and then enjoy.
In any event I really got involved. There were a lot of wonderful lines and some great facial expressions. Bruge was a great setting. I am glad that the director let the camera linger on the actor's faces because that was where a lot of their humanity came through and they were excellent actors. There was a lot of wonderful cleverness all around in the story, dialogue, direction, acting, etc. -- if nothing philosophically profound that I caught. This is not trying to be Bergman or Jodorowsky. Interesting mix of music!
Despite the fact that I found the heavy accents necessary I hope that when the film goes to DVD it will have English subtitles!! I also would like to see more of Bruge in the bonus features. I ALWAYS want an intelligent director's commentary if I am going to purchase a film -- so please. It is a visually very nice film and verry good entertainment and I would buy a DVD with good extra features. Obviously my comments are based on having just seen it in the theatre.
Movie Review: Not an Adam Sandler comedy
Summary: 5 Stars
If your idea of funny is a song about meatloaf and Sloppy Joes, this probably isn't your type of movie. If a semi-retarded man-child dressed as an elf makes you laugh until you pee, save your time and money and go rent the latest Will Ferrell movie. If jokes about chubby stoners with the munchies and unrealistically hot girlfriends tickle your funny bone, there is a growing selection of Judd Apatow movies that won't disappoint. But if you think Fargo was one of the greatest movies of all time, and you aren't afraid of colorful British accents, stop reading reviews and add this movie to your cart right now.
In Bruges succeeds because, like a good Cohen Brothers movie, it has really interesting characters played by excellent actors. It isn't so much that the plot is brilliantly original as that its development is well paced, unpredictable, and sometimes funnily and sometimes frustratingly coincidental. The characters propel it forward and their quirks season it along the way. And the setting, in Bruges, is both a visually enchanting location and excellent plot device. You may or may not like the ending regardless of how much you like the rest of the movie, but it is consistent with the tone of the film and the actions of the characters.
I saw this movie without having known anything about it, and maybe that's the best way to enjoy it. I wasn't expecting an action movie about hit-men. I wasn't expecting a comedy about goofy Irish gangsters. Without any preconceived notions or expectations, I watched it cold and let the movie tell me what it was about. I can't imagine that anyone who takes this approach could fail to be entertained, but the one-star reviewers who were put off by potty language may feel differently. If naughty words bother you, Disney makes a multitude of movies about happy non-offensive critters making loads of punny jokes you're sure to enjoy. And best of all, you can watch them with your "c**t-f*****g kids".
Movie Review: Death in Venice of the North
Summary: 5 Stars
Splendid performances by Colin Farrell, Brendon Gleeson (who played a spy in "Sleepers") and Ralph Fiennes as well as a solid story and magnificent cinematography lift this sometimes bloodstained film from the ranks of the ordinary thriller. Both Farrell and Gleeson's portrayals of paid assassins, in whom the charming canals, bridges, and gabled houses of Bruges engender a sense of conscience--and, ultimately, redemption--are worthy of Academy Awards; and Ralph Fiennes is also excellent in what for him constitutes an offbeat role as the unrelenting crime-boss who acts according to his own brutal code of conduct.
I was particularly struck by Farrell who was playing a character that in less skilled hands might seem both whiny and unsympathetic; his moving portrayal demonstrates both his superior acting skill and artistry (which were not evident in the material he was given in "Alexander the Great").
The cinematography, which focuses not only on the enchanting Belgian city--which rivals Amsterdam as the "Venice of the North"--but also on the magnificent art in its museum, provides an appropriate background for the story, in which the two assassins have come to Bruges for some special purpose, the nature of which they do not, at first, understand. The cinematographer has utilized the stark religiosity of the Flemish paintings, with their themes of torture and deliverance, to mirror the emotions of the unconventional protagonists.
Although the film has its comic moments, I think it does it a disservice to term it a dark comedy. It is more akin to a tragedy, the best of which use comedy to relieve the tension built up during the course of the action. While the film is certainly not for children, it is highly recommended for discerning adult viewers who want more than simplistic action and car-chases in their thrillers.