Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges is a brilliantly constructed and incredibly fun film. At times it is thrilling, at times dramatic, but overall this is superb comedy.
The film stars Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes in fantastic and brilliantly acted roles. Finally a film has come along where we can see the true acting capacity of Farrell – maybe because he’s finally played Irish rather than American. In any case, we have been won over.
Director Martin McDonagh is considered one of the most important living Irish playwrights. He won an Oscar in 2006 for his short film, Six Shooter, also starring Gleeson. With his feature debut, In Bruges, McDonagh has made a highly impressive film.
The term hilarious is stamped on the fronts of thousands of theatrical posters and DVD covers; seldom is the statement anything more than a gross exaggeration. But in this case, it ain’t no lie.
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You can find more information on this British movie on Wikipedia and IMDb.
As always, we recommend you don’t ruin any surprises by reading spoilers or watching this trailer:
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Title: In Bruges
Language: English
Direction: Martin McDonagh
Screenplay: Martin McDonagh
Cinematography: Eigil Bryld
Editing: Jon Gregory
Score: Carter Burwell
Stars: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Clémence Poésy, Jordan Prentice, Thekla Reuten, Jérémie Renier, Anna Madeley, Elizabeth Berrington, Eric Godon, Mark Donovan, Željko Ivanek, Ciarán Hinds
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One of my favourite films… It’s like a fairytale
Agreed, this holds one of the top spots for me.
In Bruges is a quality film, and as someone who has visited Bruges no less than 8 times in the last 8 years I can identify with the quirky Belgian characters and locations. Martin McDonagh has crafted a tight story with excellent performances throughout. And if you like In Bruges, you need to see The Guard, which was written and directed by John Michael McDonagh (Martin’s brother), and also stars Brendan Gleeson in an unforgettable role as the title character.
Agree with philthyanimal – and I’ve been there a lot too! Similarly worth seeing is Intermission (2003) with Farrell but set in Dublin with quirky Irish people
I was suprised how good it was as don’t generally associate Farrell with clever and witty. But I loved this! The Guard is also definitely worth a watch
Already reviewed, Kirsty!
http://wonderfulcinema.com/2012/01/07/the-guard-2011/
I love it when people speak highly of this movie. It’s such a great film and the cranky interaction between Gleeson and Farrell was marvelously executed. Very cool stuff you have here, Shimky!
-Steve
Anti-Film School
Top movie! Farrell’s best performance – intelligent farce.
remember watching in at the cinema. great laugh. great movie.
Great dark comedy, very witty and something of a big pull for tourists to Bruges. Apparently the local tourist chiefs were upset when they saw the final cut, given that some of the characters continually knock the ancient city, but then loads of tourists came asking to see the places where it had been filmed, having first heard of Bruges from the film.
Proof that (sometimes) there is no such thing as bad advertising.
Hey there, I’ve just nominated you for a versatile blogger award, check out my post.
Wasn’t certain what I was getting when Netflix recommended this movie to me and I added it to the queue. Popped it in the player and was pleasantly surprised. Funny, edgy, action sequences, witty dialogue, and even a fair bit of decent acting. Enjoyed it so much I bought a copy so I copy watch it any time I feel like it, and that’s been more than once since.
Going to see Seven Psychopaths tomorrow by the same director – should be good!
I watched this movie some time ago, and I remember liking it a lot, and I have recommended it to several people, but funny? that I do not remember. I ‘ll just have to watch it again. as for ferrell, i liked him in London Boulevard. the movie was a bit of a disappointment, but I thought he did well in the movie. A good, creepy villain in that one as well.
Got this for my 17 yr old son,at xmas can’t wat to watch it now. Great site.
I saw this film 2 years ago and loved it (and especially as I was travelling to Brugge just after)!
Had an amazing holiday, lots of chocolate truffles and waffles!
i’ve seen this film so many times. a few weeks ago was the last time. it’s brilliant. it’s all in the code. jk
Loved this film, made me laugh so hard.
I have to admit I didn’t get it. I love the town and saw the movie simply for that, but despite a few funny moments I didn’t enjoy it. Maybe I’m just not a Farrell fan. ;o)
We felt the same way about Farrell until we saw this film!
Awesome film! Love the review style… hate spoilers. Have you seen Seven Psychopaths?
Not yet – it’s definitely on the list!
Yes! Same director, soo good!
Watched this in the cinema when it came out. Took me a while to get into it but now one of my favs.
Highly underrated film.
This is an excellent movie! I enjoyed the review.
one of my favorite films of all time and it has inspired me to hopefully visit and photograph Bruges next year.
It’s an amazingly beautiful city, Phrenzel. Not to mention the chocolate and beer!!
“An Uzi? I’m not from South Central Los f***ing Angeles. I didn’t come here to shoot twenty black ten year olds in a drive-by. I want a normal gun for a normal person.” In Bruges is so wonderful. I never get tired of seeing it.
Thanks for the follow, loved this film. Totally surprised by Colin too.
I went to see this movie, fully expecting a comedy. I left the movie theater feeling severely shocked. Rarely have I seen a movie less like a comedy than this one.
I have a lot of trouble understanding how this film could be marketed as a comedy. To me it felt more like a surrealist fim, with a slightly nightmarish, dark fairytalelike quality. Within that genre it might be a very good film, but by no means would I consider this a comedy. I kid you not when I say it took me several days to recover from the gloomy feeling the film left we with.
This is a very interesting reaction to the film. You are not alone either. One other person so far has mentioned to us that they cannot see how this film can be classed as humour. I wonder if you need to be British to understand the Irish humour in this film? I don’t know. We and many other people find this film nothing short of hilarious. Is there someone among our readers who can give us some insight into why some people react so very differently to this material?
Thanks for writing, Mr. Belgium. Very interesting!
I am surprising to read that someone equated this to a fairy tale? I thought it was a wacky, dry humored and satirical movie that made me laugh but also was sad on another level. Unique dialogue and great actors pull it through to a good movie.
More than hilarious it is able to be also poignant. Most films that try to be funny and dramatic fail on the latter. It’s able to make us care while making us laugh.