After the Credits

In Bruges — Guilt with very bad manners

In Bruges gives its sharp dialogue a surprising amount of warmth. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson make the humour work because the friendship and the guilt underneath it feel worth taking seriously.

Spoiler-free review.

Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson are a very good reason to watch In Bruges. Their different kinds of patience make even a conversation about how to spend the day engaging. Farrell gives Ray an irritability that can be childish and funny without becoming empty noise. Gleeson gives the relationship some welcome steadiness.

Martin McDonagh writes dialogue that shows how people interrupt and let each other down. A line can be mean, awkward, and strangely kind all at once. The jokes work because the characters really care about what they're saying. They're not just waiting to say the next clever thing.

The setting gives the enforced pause in their lives a useful shape. There is time to look around, argue and return to things neither person is handling particularly well. I liked the contrast between the appeal of the place and the baggage they bring into it. The film lets that contrast be funny without resolving the discomfort.

Some of the language is deliberately abrasive, and the plotting becomes more conspicuous as the pressure grows. Still, the emotional side has already earned its place. The film cares enough about the people for the jokes to have consequences. It is the warmth in that difficult friendship that makes the darker material stay with me.

9/10

My verdict

— Desly