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| 'In Bruges’ is a travelogue the audience is happy to take | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| By Craig Outhier, Get Out | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| February 14, 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
How easy it is to imagine Jules Winnfield marveling over the “most well-preserved medieval town in all of Belgium,” or Vincent Vega prattling on about women and midget movie actors in the hotel room while cleaning his contact lenses. By depositing these two professional killers and their easygoing, humanizing banter in a storybook city all but frozen in time, writer-director Martin McDonagh does the “Pulp Fiction” joke one better, I would say. “In Bruges” speaks excitingly to the romance of change while delivering a deliciously funny, ironic bite. Maybe “Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead” is a more apt comparison. London gangsters Ken (Gleeson) and Ray (Colin Farrell) find themselves banished to the blind fringes of a larger drama. It all started back in England, with a contract killing gone horribly awry. Now their boss — a mysterious, Cockney-accented thug named Harry — has shipped them to the Belgian city of Bruges to cool their heels. The partners make for an immediate, and hilarious, study in contrasts. Ken, with his thoughtful demeanor, takes an immediate shine to the city’s quaint streets and imposing Gothic architecture. One gets the sense that he’s found home. His young counterpart, on the other hand, detests the place. “If I’d grown up on a farm and was retarded, Bruges might impress me,” Ray says, masking his anxiety over the debacle in London. “But I didn’t, so it doesn’t.” Gleeson makes for an intriguing contradiction as the fatherly Ken. On the other hand, Farrell (“Miami Vice”) has never been funnier, surer or more magnetic than as the mercurial Ray. Alternately morose and spastic, unable to suppress his boyish enthusiasm upon seeing an undersized actor on a Belgian movie set — “Midgets in movies!” he squeals — the character is clearly going someplace interesting, and we’re happy to follow. That Ray will ultimately end up in a hotel suite with that very same little person, two prostitutes and a mountain of cocaine isn’t exactly a fait accompli, but considering the edgy nature of the characters, it’s a scenario that has certain credibility. It gets even loopier when Harry and his horrifying Cockney temper come to town to finish unsettled business, forcing the story to reach a surreal, yet bloody-exciting, tipping point. That Harry is played by “The English Patient” star Ralph Fiennes is no secret — heck, the actor’s name is splashed all over the official poster — but I still feel a bit guilty revealing that fact. No matter. Watching the prim, cultured Fiennes play gloriously against type is surprise enough. REVIEW ‘In Bruges’Cast: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes Rated: R (strong bloody violence, pervasive profanity and some drug use), 107 minutes — Grade: A- Contact Craig Outhier by email, or phone (480) 898-5683 |
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