In Bruges (2008)

This week’s Disc Dive takes us to Belgium. Let’s do some sightseeing as I revisit In Bruges.

Title: In Bruges

Director: Martin McDonagh

Released: January 17, 2008 (Sundance Film Festival)

Runtime: 1 hour 48 minutes

Disc Format: Blu-ray

Ray (Colin Farrell) is a hitman whose first assignment goes wrong. While carrying out a hit inside a church, he accidentally kills a young altar boy caught in the line of fire.

In the aftermath, Ray and his mentor Ken (Brendan Gleeson) are sent by their boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes) to Bruges to lie low while awaiting further instructions. Ken quickly falls in love with the city’s medieval charm, treating the trip as a much needed vacation. Ray, meanwhile, finds Bruges painfully boring and struggles to move past what happened.

As the two spend their days wandering the city, Ray finds himself drawn to Chloë (Clémence Poésy), a drug dealer and production assistant. They begin to grow close, but eventually, those further instructions arrive.

Martin McDonagh is a writer and director I can easily get on the wavelength of. No matter how heavy things get, he’s going to find a way to make you laugh. Sometimes when you aren’t even sure you should be. That’s on full display here in his feature directorial debut.

Farrell is excellent as Ray. He gets a lot to do emotionally and handles all of it incredibly well. Easily one of my favorite performances from him. Gleeson brings a quiet warmth to Ken, a papa bear figure who sees Ray’s flaws clearly and accepts them anyway. Together they’re something special. The banter feels like two friends busting each other’s balls, and their friendship is what holds the whole film together.

Fiennes doesn’t get a ton of screen time as Harry, maybe twenty minutes tops. Doesn’t matter. He’s memorable and steals every scene he’s in.

The cinematography from Eigil Bryld is worth calling out too. Ken spends much of the film appreciating Bruges’ architecture, and Bryld makes it easy to see why. The city looks fantastic.

In Bruges is dark, funny, and exactly my kind of film. McDonagh had me from the jump.

How does In Bruges hold up for you?