Movie Week – In Bruges

Image via Minimal Movie Posters

Since I committed myself to this Movie Week, I found myself with a kind of daunting list of movies to watch.  This meant that some days I’d have to double up on the movies.  On those “double” days I tried to come up with some rhyme or reason to connect the two films. 

The first double feature was Steven Soderbergh films, the second was films with single word titles.  Now it’s titles with two words. 

Hey, I didn’t say the connective tissue was any good. 

So In Bruges was a movie that I’d wanted to see for a while.  I’d heard nothing but good things about it and since it was readily available On Demand, I figured it’d see if it actually lived up to the hype. 

I’m going to admit that In Bruges left me conflicted.  On one hand, I totally felt it lived up to the hype.  It did take a minute to grow me, but once it clicked I was down.  Initially I felt like Colin Farrell was trying a bit too hard, but it seemed like he settled down a bit as the film progressed. 

I truly enjoyed the dialogue.  The play between Ray and Ken was great.  Actually the dialogue between all of the characters was so much fun to listen to.  I also really liked how tortured Ray was and how comforting Ken was to him. 

And I really appreciated how innocent victims played a huge role in the film.  Crime is often dramatized and glorified in movies, but rarely are the repercussions addressed.  While we didn’t see the effect of the murder of an innocent had on the community or family, it’s impact was still felt. 

But that brings me to my conflict; once Harry puts out the order, I’m 100% with him.  You cannot make a mistake like that and expect to live. 

I loved virtually moment between Harry and Ken.  There’s so much history between those two and it shows.  The comedy of errors that transpired in the restaurant, on the train and throughout the movie all work perfect, but that one sin in unforgivable, so it makes it difficult to root for anyone. 

That said, while I thought it was funny when it originally aired, Ralph Fiennes portrayal of Harry made me go back and find this SNL bit just to laugh again.