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In Bruges  4

I saw this at my usual cinema haunt (Empire cinema in Rubery) and I really enjoyed it — a black comedy with great characters, a brilliant script and a superbly chosen soundtrack. All the leads were excellent and Colin Farrell was especially moving.

I’ve struggled in vain to write something worthwhile to explain the basis of the film but in the end have succumbed to simply quoting IMDb:

Bruges, the most well-preserved medieval city in the whole of Belgium, is a welcoming destination for travellers from all over the world. But for hit men Ray and Ken, it could be their final destination; a difficult job has resulted in the pair being ordered right before Christmas by their London boss Harry to go and cool their heels in the storybook Flemish city for a couple of weeks. Very much out of place amidst the gothic architecture, canals, and cobbled streets, the two hit men fill their days living the lives of tourists. Ray, still haunted by the bloodshed in London, hates the place, while Ken, even as he keeps a fatherly eye on Ray’s often profanely funny exploits, finds his mind and soul being expanded by the beauty and serenity of the city. But the longer they stay waiting for Harry’s call, the more surreal their experience becomes, as they find themselves in weird encounters with locals, tourists, violent medieval art, a dwarf American actor shooting a European art film, Dutch prostitutes, and a potential romance for Ray in the form of Chloë, who may have some dark secrets of her own. And when the call from Harry does finally come, Ken and Ray’s vacation becomes a life-and-death struggle of darkly comic proportions and surprisingly emotional consequences.

On an sort-of-but-not-really related note there was an excellent model of Wall*E in the foyer:

And on the way home there were some excellent looking thunderstorm clouds:

… but all we got from those was a few rumbles in the far, far distance and a spot of rain.

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