In Bruges (2008) +

A witty, intense, gorey caper that plays out a drama of ethics and morality...among British thugs and gun/drug traffickers in a unifying Europe...amidst the sugar-candy landscape of a Belgian tourist town. Director/writer Martin McDonagh develops a dramaturgically concise conceit (you can almost feel how this narrative could fairly easily adapt to one of those old school farces, with everything set in the lobby/bar/bedchamber of the nondescript hotel) and opens it nicely to include the landscape of Bruges as a kind of silent character. The script is one of the most intricately witty I've heard this year, with character detail and essential backstory embedded within the unfurling banter of the film's central characters, Ken and Ray (Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, respectively). Farrell and Gleeson are charismatic, hilarious and formidable -- the hitman and the hitman's apprentice -- sent away by their terrifying boss (Ralph Fiennes, brilliant as ever) to lay low in Bruges. (Farrell's Ken, while on an assigned hit, inadvertently killed a child, thus causing a complicated set of stinks that must be resolved before things can continue.) McDonagh and his ensemble allow the scenario to unfold slowly. Once we think we understand what's going on, a new wrinkle or revelation complicates things further, until finally the piece builds toward a real suspense (both emotional and cinematic) which resolves in the most surprising of ways. Peppered around this core relationship dyad (or triad, if you count Fiennes) is an array of impressive performers, familiar and not, in large and small roles. I especially enjoyed the ubiquitous Zeljko Ivanek as the prissy Canadian who gets caught in a shocking altercation with Farrell's Ken. I also liked Jordan Prentice, as a hard-partying dwarf actor -- who happens to be filming on location in Bruges -- who happens to animate Ken's fascination with dwarves/little people and their supposed statistical predisposition toward suicide. Prentice's Jimmy is, possibly, the fourth hand in this story and it's testament to McDonagh's skill as a scenarist that I didn't realize until much later that the character of Jimmy permitted the subject of suicide to be floating in the air of the story long before it becomes a specific narrative tension. I also quite liked Thekla Reuten, in the comparatively undeveloped role of Marie, the innkeeper. Reuten's presence is essential to the piece and she's indelible. The only weak link I noted was Clémence Poésy, as the drug peddler/thief who develops a soft spot for Farrell. She's fine but... The film, though, is about the banter and affection between the three leads: Farrell, Gleeson and Fiennes (Fiennes being the antagonist to the dual protagonist of the other two). The relationship between Ken and Ray emerges, for all its early trashtalk, as one of the most tender relationships between men I've seen on screen in some time. Both actors play their roles perfectly. Gleeson is utterly believable as a cold-hearted professional killer who's got a truly tender heart. Farrell is completely right as the arrogant thug just out of his depth as he moves up the crime ladder. Farrell's performance in particular is appropriately adorable and completely terrifying. He's very sweet, very funny, very damaged, and at times very scary. It's nice to see the actor in a role that highlights his particular gifts. And he and Gleeson are one of the best screen pairings I've seen this year, including Sheehan/Langella and Streep/Doubt cast. A deservedly admired film. Funny, suspenseful, effective. I'm only sorry there wasn't a stage version before this perfect "opening up" of the tight, taut and intelligent dramaturgical universe. Good stuff.