In Bruges

Bruges: A quaint medieval Belgium town and a veritable fairy tale untouched by the hands of time. Well, not if the Irish have anything to say about it. Martin McDonagh, award-winning playwright and Academy Award-winning filmmaker, charms, repulses and stuns audiences with his first feature film, In Bruges, a creative take on the tired hitman genre.

Bruges begins with assassins Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) fleeing the scene of a fateful assignment. They have been sent to lie low in the Flemish town of Bruges until their vicious boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes) calls to instruct them otherwise. Ray is at once offended by this uneventful purgatory, while Ken hopelessly seeks to engage his anxious cohort in the rich culture of Bruges. A midget, an alluring French drug dealer and far too many pints later, we learn of the demons haunting the lives Ray and Ken left back home and the tormented futures they both must face.

McDonagh spent two years perfecting the script, and it shows. From the film's impeccable casting to its breathtaking cinematography, Bruges has it audiences rapt from start to finish. McDonagh breathes vibrant life into his intricately-layered characters. The cast adeptly enchants viewers into laughter at the most inappropriate of moments, showing the unique brand of humor that works so well in a tired genre of hitman movies. The script uncovers the beauty of hope in times of despair and the harrowing themes of religion, atonement, history, adulthood and fate ring from the Gothic churches of Bruges.

Perhaps best is the role the titular city plays in the film, becoming a character of its own. McDonagh's stunning yet vacant setting forces us to ask ourselves whether life itself is no more than our very own Bruges, full of beautiful facades masking our darkest uncertainties and the inescapable progression of fate.

Already likened to cinematic masters this early in his career, McDonagh leaves no loose ends in this bitterly comedic exploration into human existence. Bruges is an exceptional comedy-drama about two hit men whose neuroses run wild in an ancient city that seems to stand as an allegory for the restless wait we experience in life. Simply, it is sheer fecking brilliance.