I don’t know about you, but I like my humor black as jet and desert-dry. I also happen to enjoy quirky British screenplays shot in unusual locations. Perhaps that’s why In Bruges, a recently-released Noir Brit-Com, had me tickled.

Now, first, a word on cinema. One of the things Los Angeles has going for it is the sheer diversity of theaters. You can find your mallplex outlets filled with texting teens and screaming babies and you have your indie arthouses showing third-run Lithuanian art films from the mid-Eighties. What most other cities don’t have, though, is the equivalent of the ArcLight. It can only be described as a tier above the “Deluxe” theaters some major cities have started opening. Excusing the shitty computer analogy, the Arclight is the freon-cooled multi-proc quad-core solid-state megabeast rig of moviegoing. It is the only theater I’m capable of going to any more, having relied on it for my silver screen excursions while I lived here in years past. With vigilant ushers, no pre-movie advertising and assigned (ultra-cushy) seating, it is the screening-house Jesus would build if he were a film magnate on a mission from the Almighty.

This is where I viewed In Bruges, and the reverent silence and cooperative laughter from the slightly-higher-brow-than-average crowd may have assisted the experience. Cinema is meant to be collective entertainment and the proper audience goes a long way towards making the most of your ticket, as any Rocky Horror veteran will no doubt attempt to convince you.

It also helps that the screenplay is downright brilliantly funny, and, further, well-balanced between dark comedy and the drama necessary to propel the story forward. With most films, the structured divisions of Act I, Act II and Act III are quite transparent. In Bruges beautifully toys with the formula; despite having drank a full pint immediately before the film, I sat through straight to the credits simply because, for the latter half of the movie, I could not honestly tell if it was going to end in five minutes or thirty. The story climaxes perfectly - and I’ll spare you the obvious metaphors - with a series of escalating peaks over the course of about half an hour.

The casting is also excellent. Irish hitmen Ray and Ken, portrayed by Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, respectively, work very well together. Both project the perfect indifference or enthusiasm in each scene required for the Odd Couple gags to fly. Ralph Fiennes is superb as the sophisticated, sinister English gangster employing the main characters.

The location of Bruges is ideal for the film. Far enough off the beaten cinematic path to avoid any expectations or the curse of familiarity, Bruges itself should elicit some interest from wanderers-at-heart as well as the simply curious, and the small size of the city center is tailored for this sort of story, allowing the characters to split apart and run back into each other at the most comically opportune moments. Further, the rich history on display can be, and is, woven intimately into the story, providing a consistently interesting backdrop to the humorous foreground.

Recommendation: See it, now if you’re into dark British comedy, on DVD if you’re not.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 at 17:46 pm and is filed under Arts and Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.