In Bruges

A wonderful film, "In Bruges" manages to actually be deeply dramatic and potent while earnestly funny. The acting is superb, and the setting is perfect, but it is the filmmaking itself that is so notable. This is Amelie with a dark masculine edge, or 8 1/2 with a gangster's guilty conscience.

First Saw
Boston Common Cinema, sometime in November 2007 with Colleen Brogan. It was a perfect night for it. Dark, cold, wet New England autumn at its best.

Beloved Quotes
"...Alcoves, you use this word?" "Bruges is a shithole." "Bruges is not a shithole"

Best Scene
End of the film- the film carnival enmeshed in the "obligatory" shoot-out.

Theoretical Points of Interest

 * The whole film within a film thing. (meta-cinema?)
 * The concern/focus on Hell and Christianity- Is this a portrait of Post-Christian Europe?
 * Why Bruges? Is this a Medieval film? Or something from another epoch? The film cross-pollinates themes, histories, and periods