In Bruges

As far as I can tell, comedy is the juxtaposition of conflicting truths. For example, a pair of cold-blooded hitmen and a picturesque Belgian town. That is the essence of In Bruges (rhymes with Rouge). However, the movie only half succeeds on either account. Neither hitmen (Collin Farrel, Brendan Gleeson) are truly cold-blooded (Collin Farrel falls in love with a local girl played by Clémence Poésy, and Brendan Gleeson often acts like his mother), nor does Bruges come off as all that dull (Farrel meets the girl on the set of a movie about midgets). Instead, In Bruges is the story of warm-hearted hitmen in a surreal, circus-esque Bruges. Still funny, sort of. If anything, the film is less a comedy of terrors and more a semi-metaphysical reflection on life. Bruges comes to represent heaven, hell, and pergatory depending on the character and ends up being a bit of a morality tale of reformation, vaguely reminiscent of Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting in terms of plot. However, the similarities end there. It does have it’s witty parts (and more than a few shockingly gory parts) but by the end, the film is most definitely not a comedy. You might like this film if you liked Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

Ugly - seriously, some gruesome shit, but also because I feel very neutral about it.

Directed by Martin McDonagh