In Bruges (2008) Dir: Martin McDonagh
- Ridley Coote
- Jul 31, 2023
- 2 min read
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Written and Directed by Martin McDonagh, this dark comedy has a simple yet relatively unique premise with an excellent cast and some superb writing. Like near enough all McDonagh's work, this was most definitely character-driven, with the film's dialogue being paramount to the development of the narrative.
As it is, both the dialogue and story are very well formed and delivered, creating suspenseful, emotive and comedic moments, seemingly at will.
Visually, though simple enough, the film has a sort of beauty to it that makes for very pleasant viewing, helped no doubt by its setting.
Colin Farrell was, until recently, a man I must admit to under-appreciating. However, his performances in films such as this have swayed me determinedly in favour of his abilities, and I am becoming a firm fan of his performances - this being one of his best.
Brendan Gleeson is another man who I have recently become an avid fan of, and once again he justified that with another sterling performance here. He is able to draw such emotion through seemingly so little, and his facial expressions continue to be among the best I see in film.
Clémence Poésy was a rather intriguing and witty addition to the cast, and provided a really decent performance.
Jordan Prentice was hilarious in his supporting role, and had some really decent chemistry with Poésy and Farrell.
Ralph Fiennes is once more terrific as the antagonist of a film, with his deliberacy and explosiveness being hugely useful in the delivery of his character.
I'll also mention some of the more noteworthy supporting performances; Thekla Reuten, Jérémie Renier, Eric Gordon, Elizabeth Berrington and Anna Madely.
Overall, this was a terrifically fun and entertaining comedy that excelled in creating some smartly emotional and impactful moments. McDonagh's writing always seems to hit home, especially when he has the quality of cast to perform it, such as he did here.
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