An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Derek Malcolm's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Martin McDonagh.
Cast: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Clemence Poesy
Description: In the aftermath of a bungled hit, gunmen for hire Ray and Ken head for the continent to await instructions from their fiery tempered crime boss, Harry. The double-act sight sees during the day then spends evenings in the local pub, drowning sorrows and flirting with some of the locals. While Ray tries his luck with beautiful drug dealer Chloe, Ken finally makes contact with Harry and is given their next assignment: a daring dangerous mission that will spatter the streets with blood.
Country: UK/BEL. 2007. 107mins
On a mission to punish: Ralph Fiennes as the hitmen's murderous boss
Playwright Martin McDonagh’s story of two Dublin hitmen, holed up in Bruges after a killing has been botched back home, achieves the difficult feat of being both funny and moving, often at the same time. It’s not a very good title for an excellent little film that’s beautifully acted, very well shot and written with real flair by its director.
Ken (Brendan Gleeson) is the older of the two, at least capable of appreciating the best preserved medieval town in Europe as the pair await orders from Harry (Ralph Fiennes) in Dublin. Ken would like to get out of the game and his face is creased with both worry and wonder as he wanders the town.
Ray (Colin Farrell) is the boyo who couldn’t care less about the various tourist attractions but meets a girl at a local film shoot (Clemence Poesy) and finds some sort of reason to stay. Unfortunately, just as he is about to bed her, her boyfriend arrives with a gun and, since he is a practised fighter, Ray manages to shoot him in the eye with a blank.
He also meets a little man on the set (the excellent Jordan Prentice, at last given some decent lines) who wants to be called a dwarf rather than a midget and gets a karate chop from Ray when he proves a bit of a racist, too.
That’s two enemies he’s made, but the worst one is Harry, who arrives furious from Dublin after a hideous row with his wife, and is determined to punish him.
Harry wants Ray done in as a matter of honour. His last job was to shoot a priest at the confessional, which he did well enough, but he also succeeded in killing a small boy about to confess his sins. Harry has told Ken to shoot Ray, but the older man has baulked at the assignment, feeling Ray still has something worthwhile left in him.
Even killers have a threshold beyond which they are not prepared to go — but the main point is that these three men are locked into their profession of violence and, however much they struggle, can’t easily get out of it.
The swear-infested dialogue, and the bloody nature of the denouement, has given In Bruges its 18 certificate. But it is an exception to the general rule of such movies in that its dialogue and attention to character allow the emotions to sway this way and that through near-farce to tragedy.
All this might have been for nought but for the performances. We know Glee-son is an exceptional actor from John Boorman’s The General. We also know that Fiennes, given something to bite on, can achieve small miracles. But we rarely see Farrell so good, using his charm well but not too much and also suggesting a guilt-ridden man who has no idea what to make of his life.
This is one of the best surprises in London at the moment, made by a writer-director who really knows what he is up to.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
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