In Bruges

I had only see the trailers for this movie, but I took a chance with it this weekend. All to often this method of movie going leads to anguish, but not this time thankfully.

In Bruges is about two hitmen who are laying low in the small Belgian town of, you guessed it, Bruges. From here we find that the younger more wound up one, played by Colin Farrell, who is amazingly the least clichéd Irish actor, has mistakenly killed a kid. Soon his partner is told to kill him, but can't bring himself to even let Colin off himself. And the conflict between them and their boss drives the rest of the movie.

This plot is pretty simple, but what makes the movie so great are all the supporting characters. You have Chloe, the local dealer and hottie; Eric, the local punk; and Jimmy, the American midget actor. Most movies would only be able to make you see each of this characters in detail by destroying the plot's flow, here the plot is almost about the characters.

Along with great characters, the writing is amazing as well. It feels like In Bruges was written by Quentin Tarantino and Samuel Beckett over a few pints of bitters. As Colin, his partner, and Jimmy (along with a bunch of whores) are sitting in a nice hotel doing lines of coke (stolen from the local hottie), a discussion begins on the inevitable war between the whites and blacks. This comes after a number of scenes in which Colin muses over the idea of the Afterlife. Alone each scene seems pretty bland, but as this odd unapologetic debauchery is mixed with the need for peace and forgiveness you begin to wonder if Bruges is heaven, limbo, or worse.