Martin McDonagh
In Bruges

Two hitmen, after a job gone wrong, are sent by their boss Harry to Bruges, the Venice of the North, the best-preserved medieval city in all of Belgium.

The two assassins are Ken (Brendan Gleeson), who becomes fascinated with the city's culture, visits churches, etc., and Ray (Colin Farrell), who, being the younger one, represents the new generation's laziness in discovering the culture and wonders that lie before their eyes (for example, a drop of Christ's blood, whether real or fake). Instead of showing interest in it, he prefers to flirt with Chloe (Clemence Poesy), a drug dealer he met on the set of a Belgian film featuring a dwarf (Jordan Prentice). But he is tormented by an inner turmoil that constantly haunts him: during the last job, his first, which involved killing a priest, a bullet hit a "little kid," a child, who was praying in the church. The whole film revolves around this event: Harry orders Ken to kill his partner, because "you don't kill kids!"

The plot of this film is, in my opinion, well-constructed, it convinced me a lot and left me stunned. Everything fits, and all the little things will eventually be revealed to have great importance. You shouldn't miss even 5 minutes of it.

Another strong point, in my opinion, is the psychological characterization of the main characters: all of them, and this struck me, have a great humanity, they aren't the killing machines one might imagine. Harry is a man who lives to the end respecting his values, Ken is rather gruff on the surface but cares for Harry and feels the weight of his homicidal dilemma, and finally, Ray is like a child trying to do everything to forget his infanticide: taking drugs, drinking, fighting; seeking present excesses to forget that past mistake. And his character is very childish too, with responses and fears worthy of that period in our lives. It seems he regressed after the child's murder, "absorbing" his essence in some way. But there's no way out of his childhood because he sees no end to his suffering, reaching the point of contemplating suicide (I won't spoil anything, don't worry). If I were to draw some conclusions, I would identify Harry-Ken-Ray as father-grandfather-child.

A stunning Colin Farrell for this film, coming out of a dark period in his life. He presents the character convincingly, with facial expressions that say it all, like children who don't like to talk. He is joined by Bruges, a "dream for children" according to Harry, "hell" for Ray; this city, with its Gothic architecture, canals similar to those of Venice (but without gondolas) and its rigorously Belgian population, is a stunning setting that turns into hell for the characters. The good cinematography of the film has the merit of presenting it to us so well.

Nonetheless memorable are the jokes about the Belgians. I am in Belgium, I saw the film in a Belgian cinema, and I was the only one laughing. Damn Italian!