In Bruges is a different kind of crime movie. It mixes the usual brutal violence and every-other-word profanity with an absurdist sense of humor, plus it has a dwarf in it.
Hitmen Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) leave London for the Belgian city Bruges after Ray’s first hit goes tragically wrong. While awaiting contact from their boss (Ralph Fiennes), the two settle in to the city and mix with the locals, including a stunning, drug-dealing Bruges native (Cl’eacute;mence Po’eacute;sy) and an American dwarf actor (Jordan Prentice).
Messages of redemption and justice run throughout the film. Each hitman has strong opinions on how someone should die: Ken believes in second chances and figures that every person (save for one) he has ever killed was a bad person, while self-defense and the defenseless keep coming up in Ray’s life.
Farrell and writer/director Martin McDonagh recently participated in a conference call with the Muse about their one-of-a-kind film.
Muse: What drew you to focus this movie on this one city?
MM: Well, I just went there for the weekend on a break from London about four years ago and I was struck by how cinematic and beautiful the place was, and just strange and otherworldly. So we went there for a couple nights and towards the middle of the second day, I was just bored out of my head and just wanted to get drunk and meet women. Then the rest of me was kind of thinking, ‘Should I stay and see the churches and see the architecture and the culture?’ and the other side of me [wanted to just] get drunk. Those were just the sides of my brain arguing with each other that became Ray and Ken.
Muse: Colin, what attracted you to this role?
CF: To be honest with you, the rumor that there are only three stories in the world and everything is a derivative of one of the three or all. Bottom line, I’ve never come across something that is so unusual. There was such a dichotomy to it, and such a balance between comedy and absolute despair and despondency and pain and fear that’s inherent in a lot of our lives, regardless of if we’ve been involved in the tragedies and transgressions Ray has. It was just beautiful — just really deep without being indulgent — and hilarious at the same time.
Muse: Were you worried the humor was too absurd and would take away from the drama of the movie?
MM: Absurd? I wouldn’t say so at all. Lots of [the jokes] are not very PC and lots are very odd. No, I mean, I’ve always loved to have that; to write a scene that’s completely depressing and despairing in one line, then in the very next line be kooky and funny and kind of the exact opposite of that. I think we got the balance really well. I mean, you’ve got to laugh at certain dark things in life, but you’ve got to not ignore them at the same time. I think what we’re doing is laughing and not ignoring the despair.