STARRING: COLIN FARELL, BRENDAN GLEESON, RALPH FIENNES, CLEMENCE POESY
RATING: ---WOW---
Certainly, WOW is the word. I know I am writing a review after long and as I usually say, my reviews are inspired and not provoked (except, maybe in the case of Slumdog Millionaire, it was a case of the latter) and this way I have to say IN BRUGES, directed by Matthew McDonagh, is one movie that truly deserves more than just a word of appreciation: It needs to be lived in...
Let alone the plot, for the movie is so full of frivolous, yet horrific surprises and I certainly don’t want to spoil the hype if accidentally, I inspire you to watch the movie. So I guess we need to begin with what won my heart more than Bruges itself and that ought to be the cast. Brendan Gleeson (Though I mentioned his name second) is chief here, and as a veteran, he does what is necessary with relative ease in this neat underplay of a performance. Even when he sheds tears, he doesn’t cry, but just turns moist eyed and that shows a stability of mind (though pretty unusual for a hit-man!) governed basically by the strength of his character (The character of Ken). He enjoys Bruges like a child enjoys looking at a rose, like a sad teen enjoys looking at his pretty girl-next-door: He just can’t figure out what’s inspiring him. Colin Farell, as Ray, on the other hand, is one of a restless, and almost entirely comical (perhaps that’s because of his rather child-like face and gestures) who says Bruges is a “fucking shithole” and hides an inner trauma by shedding tears when his companion’s not there, and even goes to the extent of trying to kill himself, after an attempt at generosity to a lovely mother-to-be hotel caretaker-owner name Marie (A mesmerizingly beautiful Thekla Reuten).
I should say, than terror, there’s a serious question of character in store, as Ken restrains from shooting Ray, for he sees him attempting to ‘blow his head out’ right in front of his eyes. Ray asks our question: “You were gonna shoot me weren’t you?” (Forgive me for not sounding irish :D). Well, surely Ken did raise his pistol before Ray raised his and since the act had been initiated, there’s not a question of withdrawal, is there. Ken had indeed wanted to shoot Ray, but he hadn’t enough heart to shoot an already broken man. So, that sequence there, was a serious question of character and a refraining hint at Ken’s wisdom (???) for he is one that’s slowly becoming a saint as the movie progresses.
Clemence Poesy doesn’t actually deserve an entire essay for her role, but she does need mention for looking as beautiful and loving as the character demands (apt choice, sure!). Her smiles kill, she demands I write a song about her (maybe I would) and better, she’s got a boyfriend-partner and the pair of them are used to rob disillusioned men in the presence of an old-fashioned revolver. Well, what he eventually gets from Ray is a ‘shot in the eye’ and a necessity to pay hospital bills!!!
Ralph Fiennes appears towards the end as Harry Waters, boss of Ken and Ray, whose character is either a paradox or just, for he ends the plot saying “You’ve got to live up to your principles...”. A new dash of evil to his green eyes (Voldemort hangover, perhaps?) him and Ray stun in a sequence as much light-hearted as it was tense, where their ‘antics’ and ‘plans’ make a flabbergasted Marie exclaim, “You guys are crazy!” Well, in my opinion, they are. IN BRUGES is a film about three men who are overgrown babies, a girl who looks and kisses as pretty as the French in her, her one-eyed boyfriend who doesn’t know where to look when he’s been told that he deserved it “for being a puff”, an adorable Marie, and an arms dealer named Yuri with a penchant for the alcoves.
I think with the cast being lauded enough for beautiful ‘caricature performances’ we turn not to anything technical, but with the movie in itself...
This can’t be called feel-good: Not after a literal demolition of all male leads. But apart from the sequences intended to shake you, or move you to tears (Oh, sad to see Farell whimper!) IN BRUGES is entirely a movie that’s meant to make you forget the bad in life and take a long hard look at the beauty in it, maybe at least till you’re alive. Bruges in itself seems that. A poetic town, with not lush landscapes, but artistic buildings and haunting works of art and not to mention the phial that is supposed to contain drops of Jesus Christ’s blood (Don’t know if that’s a legend!), Bruges is different things to each of the characters. To Chloe (Clemence) it’s her hometown; to Ken, it’s a place where you “think you’re in a dream”, to Harry, it’s a place to visit before dying, while Ray calls it hell. And he’s not unwise in saying so, for it is so tranquil, that it reminds him of his sins and makes him feel remorse, and there’s nothing more painful than to feel remorse for something you wish never happened...
Music score by Carter Burwell makes me (yet again!) feel sceptical about Slumdog Millionaire. I’m sorry but I can’t seem to help it. Compositions involving a solo piano tune raise the film to operatic proportions, with a haunting tune in store at every horrifying scene that Mcdonagh has in store for us. There’s a particular chase, involving Harry and Ray, where a classical piano score transgresses into rock, complete with crash-drums and electric guitars, with the backdrop of the night proving to be fuel to the sheer brilliance in play, in form of the music: Truly scintillating indeed!
There are no tears IN BRUGES: Just a warm feeling in your heart and a delight that movies like these are still being made. It’s a ride through emotions, (a light-hearted ride, that too!) where you get to see sights of grown up men become children again, and not to mention, a particularly racist American dwarf who insists there’s going to be a war between Blacks and Whites soon and between black ‘midgets’ and white ‘midgets’ but later denies to a laughing Chloe (Oh, my...) saying it was “all coke”. Anti-American thoughts galore, there’s another sequence, one depicting Ray’s paranoia with the ‘bottle’ when he bashes an American couple for criticizing Chloe smoking “into their faces”.
The man describes (rudely of course!) Ray’s “fucking arrogance” which is matched by a retort from Ray saying that that’s what earned then what they got from the Vietnamese. A full-blooded-punch later, Ray sarcastically comments “That’s for Lennon!” and here I mention this sequence, though unconnected with the plot, for this was one of the plenty IN BRUGES, that made me smile...
Thought of this to be my next addition (sixth) to RAINBOW REIGN, but turns out this wouldn't be very suitable. So apparently I don't have much of a problem publicizing this one :)
