IN BRUGES Discussion - Page 6

Farrell, no. McDonagh, yes.

I can dream, cant I?

Now we can dream that McDonagh will actually win.

Well Im late to the party but my missus and I sat down to this tonight and loved the living shit out of it.

First film I can honestly say Ive adored Farrell in, Gleeson is as good as always (seriously it's been said in here before but everyone HAS to see Boormans The General, I was lucky enough to see it in a cinema in Dublin upon its release - an utter treat) and Fiennes joins the ranks of my other favourite "very good actors chewing the scenery as villains" that I love to watch so much.

Seriously brilliant little gem of a film.

Glad you liked it.

The rewatchability of it blows my mind.

I have it on my iPhone and watch it every single time I fly.

I laugh like an idiot when hopped up on xanax, apparently.

Serious slice of fried gold. Its all been said here already but the drug-fucked hotel room talk with the midget (sorry dwarf) and the hookers where our little friend goes into the upcoming war between black people and white people and black and white midgets (seriously that WOULD make an awesome movie) had me in total hysterics. Then to have the scene tonally swing wildly when Gleeson talks about his wife (which sets up why he feels so indebted to Fiennes beautifully) and ending with the karate chop.

Thats some masterful writing acting and direction there.

I still love how Gleeson goes splat, with such ferocity. It's the only time I've seen a pancake-moment done, what I thought was, pretty accurately - Yes, I've seen people fall from up on high and land ungracefully. It was... messy.

I finally just saw this the other night (better late than never, right?). All of the praise it has been given is most certainly due. My wife loved it as well. I just need to get around to watching it again to continue to soak in it. Great, great stuff.

Went to a bar on a date this weekend, and behind the bar was a sticker that said "It's in Belgium" with a small movie logo and map of Belgium. The bartender was pouring my beer, and I started to chuckle thinking about the movie. My date asked why the laugh, and I told her. Turns out she's a huge fan of the movie too. The bartender is also a fan, and a regular brought him the sticker. Spent 20 minutes quoting our favorite stuff. Great time.

That's the stuff a film fan's dreams are made of. Obviously, you get to bang her at the end. And probably cap it all with the best quote outta your favourite film.

But that's just me.

Man, don't go jinxing me! I'm still working on it, but I do hope she has an ex with a shaved head so I can bust out the poofter quote.

Watched this a few times and read the thread recently. I do think some of the plot elements on first viewing come across as standard construction (hitmen, movie-within-a-movie) but that's less important on the second.

For gangsters, the main two seem very aware of how unimportant they are in the scheme of things, especially against a backdrop that reminds them of centuries of brutality and penance.

I particularly like when Gleeson explains the Bosch painting as a metaphor for hell, and Farrell says, "What's that then?" and the camera pans over to a man riding a giant bunny.

Finally saw this and it's quite interesting to say the least. A cute, quirky and violent little movie. Overall, I liked it alot.

HIGHLIGHT:

The Racial Midget

I lost my shit about the whole "race war" thing and then when Farrell pussy Karate chopped the midget and you then see the midget whithering in pain. Too damn funny.

Finally caught this one. Thought it written and directed with amazing confidence for a feature debut and was hilarious (and poignant when appropriate) throughout. A lot of people were kind of full of shit on the first page of this thread! And I don't really buy the talk of it being derivative of the post-QT gangster movie scene - it felt to me like it was in the tradition of something like Withnail and I as much as Pulp Fiction. Not sure if it amounts to *that* much beyond being highly quotable and entertaining, but it certainly stoked my interest in Seven Psychopaths and McDonagh's other work.

First of all, reading all the Gleeson love in this thread, any of you guys that haven't seen The Guard (made by John McDonagh - Martin's brother - and easily one of the top three comedies of 2011) yet should be ashamed of yourselves because as good as he is in In Bruges, he's even better in The Guard and y'all need to reprazent!

 

Second of all I watched In Bruges again a couple of nights ago, the third time I've seen it but the first time since I saw The Guard, and it turns out I still adore the shit out of it. I find the control of tone to be damn near perfect with the (controversial and sure to lose me what little cred I may have) exception of Ralph Fiennes. I believe in every character except his. I'm not saying he ruins the film, but the reasons Farrell and Gleeson are so amazingly engaging are that they don't ham their comedy up. I hate to admit it but to me Fiennes is all ham and zero threat, and I needed some threat from him. In that long British comedic tradition of swear word enthusiasts Fiennes strikes me here as closer to the cuteness of Hugh Grant in Four Weddings than the sharpness of Peter Capaldi in In The Loop or the menace of Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast.

 

Still love the film though.

 

Good pick. I only just saw this for the first time a couple of weeks ago  and have been trying to nail the right phrase for where it sits tonally - Withnail is an excellent reference point. It has a very similar sense of melancholy over which the wackiness sits, and the veneer is often wafer-thin. The thing with those QT wannabe gangster films, was that they're all really about showing how cool their characters are with the quirky dialogue only to be taken as 'Wow, these sexy gangsters sure are witty!'

 

In Bruges uses the humour to highlight the sheer fucking banality of the characters' lives. They're not cracking wise because they're cool, they're essentially miserable people forced to work with each other under great stress for far too long. Even Fiennes in full rant mode is going through the motions. I love the scene when Gleeson and Fiennes confront each other at the hostel and end up debating from behind cover as to who should walk out first so they don't hurt the owner. It's all just rote to them, and her growing exasperation listening to this ridiculous conversation is hilarious.

So ashamed I didn't see this until the other night.  I've been paraphrasing the movie for days, driving the gf nuts.

 

"What do you mean not his fucking thing?  Is the Swan still there?  Is the fucking Swan still there?!  YOU LEAVE MY CUNT KIDS OUT OF THIS!"

The hitman thing seemed to me a clear reference to Pinter rather than Tarantino.

I'd agree with that. The dialogue in In Bruges has much more that 'comedy of menace' feel, with banal conversations about circumstances that are incredibly fucking grim. The Tarantino thing only comes up because the QT Ripoff has become a virtual genre in itself, but the film's going for something entirely different.

 

I came to the film expecting a breezy, quip-happy couple of hours and while I certainly got quips, the sheer grimness of the film floored me. These are unhappy people who have led horrific lives that are about to end horrifically, and I love how McDonough doesn't shy from it one bit. While the humour acts as a respite from teh bleakness, it's also deeply rooted in character and informs the reasons why these characters are where they are. For me, Pinter and Withnail & I are far more accurate points of reference.

 

I feel like all the QT comments really just came from the trailer that pisyhed all the comedy and completely left out how grim and depressing it can get. Fantastic film that still hold up.

 

One thing that always got me though as much as I loved Fienes sides of the conversations abck home I really wish the first time we saw him was reserved when he appears in In Bruges. His side of the telephone conversations is one of the if only instances we are outside of Bruges. I like the idea of Bruges being a physical purgatory for both characters and I with McDonaugh made just a few edits to take it a step further with the camera literally never leaving Bruges.

But then we would never have "YOU'RE AN INANIMATE FUCKING OBJECT!"

Anytime someone discusses the oncoming war with...whatever, Iran, or the Cola Wars, or the Mac v. PC, Iphone v Android wars, I chime in with "I know whose side I’m fighting on. I’m fighting with the blacks."

I know thats why I can't entirely agree with what I just said.

I saw this for the first time today, and couldn't have loved it more.  Gleeson and Farrell both give two fine performances, with Farrell in particular excelling at balancing the comedic and tragic within his character without any of it ever seeming false emotionally.  Fiennes is also more than capable at playing the character of Harry, with his intensity coming through the affected accent at full force.  I can say that I did not expect the film's tone; it's not the light chase film I thought it was going to be.

 

And, oh man, that splat when Gleeson hits the ground.  I have not cringed harder than I did during that moment in some time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyxUzuZg6Qg