In Bruges

Y'know, I see good movies every once in a while, too.

In Bruges is one of them. Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell play two hitmen sent to Bruges to lay low after an assassination goes horribly wrong. Farrell's character, Ray, has killed a child with a stray bullet, and is heartsick at his actions. Gleason's Ken considers himself his babysitter as he works through it.

They're in the city of Bruges, particularly, for a reason, and it's not necessarily the reason you might think. Ray hates the town, finding it stuffy and boring; Ken loves its history, architecture and beauty.

A few other characters round out the cast. They stumble onto a film set and meet Chloe (Clémence Poésy), a pretty local girl, and Jimmy (Jordan Prentice), a dwarf who's acting in a Eurotrash dream sequence for the film. Both are full of surprises. There's also Marie (Thekla Reuten), the proprietor of the bed and breakfast they stay at, and Harry (Ralph Fiennes), the hitmen's uncompromising boss.

There are wrinkles and complications. Characters appear in one scene, then return in unexpected ways. There are several opportunities for the film to make a conventional choice, and it unfailingly chooses the opposite. If the film has a flaw, it's that some of the connections are a bit too pat. For instance, it seems a bit too much coincidence that one character, seeking a gun (if that's indeed what he's looking for), goes to Harry's local supplier just when Harry arrives. Then again, I might have missed a bit of dialogue that explained it.

There are little coincidences all over, and most of them work just fine. It is, as one character says, a magical fairyland of a town, and in fairy tales, there are certain things you just accept.

Rob