I'll make this quick.
See In Bruges.
The pitch-black comedy/gangster flick is now available on video, and if you're one of the many who missed its short run in theaters, I highly recommend putting it on your Netflix queue somewhere. It stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson -- both of whom turn in fantastic performances -- as a couple of Irish thugs briefly exiled to the bucolic Belgian town of Bruges after a hit goes terribly wrong. The movie features so many conventions you've seen a hundred times before -- from gangsters on the run, to the fish-out-of-water scenario, to the surreal, Lynchian idiosyncrasies of a small town -- but they're all combined so expertly and with such a deft touch that the resulting amalgam feels completely fresh. Credit for both the purposely dreamlike feel of the film as well as its whip-smart dialogue goes to writer/director Martin McDonagh -- the celebrated playwright behind The Pillowman and The Lieutenant of Inishmore, both of which Jayne and I were fortunate enough to see on Broadway and are still raving about.
It's funny, it's tragic, it's surprisingly moving.
In Bruges is a damn good movie.
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