CINEMA: In Bruges

So there I was, wrapped-up warm against a snowy New York City evening with a gorgeous blonde siren asking me to the achingly-hip Angelika Theatre in the Village to watch some film called In Bruges which I had never heard of. Ok, yeah, I admit it, I thought it was some arty Belgian language film which I would undoubtedly hate. I didn’t care though. If you could see her, you wouldn’t care either.

So we shuffled into the grand old theatre and settled down for the spectacle (or in my case, next to her, awww). Well, what followed was the most enjoyable hour and 45 minutes since… well, ever. I’d actually forgotten I was on a date within three minutes.

Turns out that In Bruges is an Irish film about a couple of hitmen hiding out in Belgium and I can say with some confidence that no matter how much of a humourless freak you might be, you will laugh your arse off at least a dozen times before the end.

I was the sole non-American in a room of say 200 people and I spent half the time doing something I hardly ever do… laughing out loud on my own (which is a good sign). It was the good kind of guilty shouldn’t-really-but-can’t-help-myself sniggering. Always a winner. If you like dark humour, and oh God how I like dark humour, then you will not be disappointed. There is swearing, violence, drugs, casual racism, dwarves, death, prostitutes and one-liners… or a Tuesday lunchtime round Michael Barrymore’s, if you will.

Short of pulling the much-mooted but probably-never-actually-performed ‘bottomless popcorn trick’ you will be hard-pressed to enjoy yourself as much in a cinema.

Colin Farrell is excellent, his best performance yet, while Brendan Gleeson is his usual brilliant self. Ralph Fiennes comes close to stealing the show and there are a host of other good performances, but the overwhelming star of the show is the dialogue. I can’t stress just how deeply my whelm was buried under there.

Playwrite Martin McDonagh wrote and directed this, his first venture into feature-length cinema. He really should think about retiring while he is on top, because In Bruges isn’t going to be bettered.

Built it up too much? You be the judge…       Alex Hoad