Martin McDonagh has struck gold with his debut feature film, “In Bruges”. “In Bruges” has everything you would want to see in a film: it’s funny, stylish and at times it’s a real tear jerker. “In Bruges” is without doubt the best film I have seen all year and definitely the best British film I have ever seen. “In Bruges” deserves to win the coveted Oscar for best picture. There are three reasons why “In Bruges” deserves to win this Oscar: firstly the brilliance of the directing from McDonagh; secondly the perfect chemistry between the cast and thirdly the amazingly witty screenplay.
Unsurprisingly this film is almost entirely set in the Belgian medieval town of Bruges. The two main characters are Irish hit men called Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson). They get sent to Bruges to lie low and evade the police and wait for further instructions, after doing a botched job back home. While Ken is happy just to sightsee, his fast talking partner, Ray, sets out for adventure. Before long, Ray is experiencing hilariously surreal encounters with tourists, skin heads, dwarves and prostitutes. When at last the call comes from their boss, Harry (Ralph Fiennes), the fun turns to a life and death struggle of darkly comic proportions.
When I first looked at the DVD cover for “In Bruges” and saw the name Brendan Gleeson I thought brilliant he knows his films. He hasn’t been in anything too bad; nothing to worry about. Then I saw the name Ralph Fiennes who I thought was very good in Schindler's List and who could forget him as Lord Voldemort. Then suddenly I saw Colin Farrell’s name, not exactly my cup of tea I and I lost all faith in him after “Miami Vice” but… Colin Farrell is spectacular as Ray. Ray isn’t an easy character to play, Farrell having to alternate from one emotion to another; acting like an unimpressed teenager in one scene, then playing a man getting crippled by guilt and depression. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson are