Friday night I finally had the chance to see In Bruges , a film that I have spoken of several times on this blog. The film finally made its way down from Boston and closer to my home and is playing at the Nickelodeon in Falmouth. Frances and I made the trek out to Falmouth to catch the last showing Friday night and it was worth it. I was already excited to go to the Nickelodeon, simply because the place is very surreal. It is quite literally in the middle of nowhere in Falmouth, which is an accomplishment considering it is on the Cape, nestled between golf courses on the way to Mashpee. The place is very old school; the theaters are small, and with only a handful of screens, they choose to selectively play arthouse-ish movies, foreign releases, and documentaries. I had been there one other time with Tabor for a class to see The Pianist and I was pumped to go back.
I snagged the above picture on the sly on the way into the building, we were being observed by the 5 employees inside. There were very few cars in the parking lot, the place is not too busy. (BTW- I love the humorous placing of the films on the right, classic.. Frances noted, "Bands Visit Jimmy Carter In Bruges! Now thats a movie I want to see!") The eager 14 year old doled out some refreshments for us, tried to push the refillable large popcorn, (does anyone ever get that?) and we went into the theater. There was only one other man in there, and the three of us were the entire audience for the film. Love it.
I really enjoyed In Bruges, it was to put it simply, VERY Irish. The jokes were Irish, the tone was Irish, the themes were Irish. Had I not spent significantly more time in Ireland than most people, I might have been challenged by the film. I do not think I would have appreciated it as much as I did since I had the background to understand what the director was getting at. I also found the film extremely clever. I really am not exaggerating when I say that this was the best performance I have ever seen by Colin Farrell...ever. He was believable. I am sure this is made easier because he was playing an Irish person from Dublin. Farrell lives in Ballsbridge, only a few streets from my old place in Dublin. I guess the part was not too much of a stretch for him on the surface. However, the circumstances of his character Ray, a hitman on the run after he ruins a job by shooting a child, we re a reach. I was impressed by his performance, and enjoyed watching him.
Ray Fiennes also spectacular. Think Nazi captain in Schindler's List but British and a hit man. It worked well.
The film was quick and deliberate, every detail was important, there was no fluff. The themes and concepts the film questions through the offhand comments of its characters are still running through my head now. The film mixed humor and tragedy seamlessly into the same moments. At times it was hard to reconcile laughing at things as terrible as they were, but the witty dialogue made it easier to see the film and prevented it from dragging too much emotionally. Did I mention there is even a dwarf in the movie? Come on who can say no to that?
Bruges is a character herself in this movie. There are so many glamorous beautiful shots of Bruges at Christmastime. It is great to see a sort of georgraphical postcard for my own vacation. If you have never been to Bruges, this film kind of makes you want to go there. If you have been, you really appreciate it more I think.
I really do not want to give too much of the film away, I really want to urge everyone to try and see it. It is open pretty much everywhere both in Europe and the US, so check it out.
In other news, I am in the process of finishing projects and course selection for the fall. So I should be busy the next few weeks.
Happy Easter!
-Liz
