Irish Film Institute -International Film Directory – Film Listing

In Bruges

    • Director

      Martin McDonagh

    • Credits

      Producer: Graham Broadbent. Writer: Martin McDonagh

    • Principal Cast

      Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Clémence Posey,

  • Category

    Feature

In his first effort in feature filmmaking Martin McDonagh racked up numerous accolades – including an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay – with this delightfully-black comedy about a pair of Irish hitmen hiding out in Bruges after a botched mission. Giving two nuanced performances Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson play hitmen Ray and Ken; Ken enchanted by Bruges’ medieval culture, Ray disinterested, petulant, and rapidly breaking down in response to recent tragedies. Allowing the sacred and profane to blend together, questions of suicide and criminal ethics quickly become involved in a madcap plot involving incompetent local thieves, a drug-addled dwarf, and temperamental tourists. The late arrival of Ralph Fiennes as a psychotic crimelord intent on visiting brutal justice upon the pair completes this inventive thriller that, despite its black comic vein, is deeply humane.

Awards:
Best Script for Film Award at the 6th Irish Film and Television Awards 2009
Best International Film Award at the 6th Irish Film and Television Awards 2009
Best Original Screenplay Award at the 62nd BAFTA Awards 2009

107 minutes, UK/USA, 2008, Colour

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