"It's a shithole."
In Bruges is a 2008 movie by Martin McDonagh and featuring well known Irish actors Colin Farell and Brendan Gleeson. It was nominated for two Oscars and won one Golden Globe.
It is a movie about two hired killers who, after a job that got awry, are sent to the city of Bruges in Belgium. However, their holiday will not be as calm as intended.
Colin Farell's character Ray is a young Irish criminal haunted by the failed gig. He is a distinctly urban person, with only contempt for the medieval small town that is Bruges. His dark humor, childish attitude and tortured guilt make him all the more likable.
Brendan Gleeson's character Ken is Ray's mentor. With a life of work behind him, he taught Ray their macabre job. Abnormally calm and gentleman-like for a killer, he is a history buff and loves Bruges.
This movie is definitely in my top three for 2008. The cinematography is lean yet well-done, leaving the city to speak for itself. The city is beautiful and the movie would be well worth seeing if only for that. The script and dialogues are what propel this movie outside the realm of average films. Similar in tone to the Coen brothers movies, it is incredibly funny. Ray's delivery of his awesome lines in his deadpan way makes them more than memorable.
Most of the movie is lost in absurd situations, leaving only a short time to the explosive plot. It feels a lot like a writer's egotistical endeavour, forced to attach a plot on an endless succession of scenes he just had to write. While quite a plus for the funny side, the movie would have benefited from an extra 15 minutes to sort things out.
To watch.
(If Milk or Wall-E win best screenplay against this movie, there is no God.)