Released in 2008 | Directed by Martin McDonagh

Maybe that’s what hell is, the entire rest of eternity spent in fucking Bruges.

I just finished this movie but I was too excited not to write about it right away.

Earlier this week I watched a movie that I’m fairly confident will be the best movie I see from 2011, A Separation. This movie, an Iranian morality play centered around a divorce, was beautifully written, deeply thought and completely one of the best movies I’ve had the pleasure of seeing in a long time. I’m lucky enough to see a movie like A Separation about once every few months - one that really stands out, and makes me remember why I love movies so much. In Bruges, however, is different. They say when you become a lover of film, you have to make two categories: the films you consider the best ever, and the films you consider your personal favourites. The latter category doesn’t require greatness; it’s deeply personal and unique, and that’s what makes it the more important list, the one that really informs a person’s personality and their reason for their love of film. By now you’ve guessed that In Bruges is likely to fall into the latter category.

Everything about this movie clicked for me. The humour, so black that no light can escape from it. The setting and its role in giving the film its unique atmosphere. The themes of purgatory, guilt and, surprisingly, friendship. The troupe of fleshed-out supporting characters and the beautifully written and acted trio of Ray, Ken and Harry, played by Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes, respectively. And, most of all, the dialogue. There are so many quotable lines in this film that I’m having a hard time not simply copying and pasting the IMDb quotes page and skipping the rest of the reviewing process. This is a movie that manages to fit in A) a discussion about the nature of heaven and hell in a quaint Belgian art gallery, B) a debate over which nationalities would side with which in a white vs. black world war and C) a heart-pounding chase scene played out remarkably devoid of any action movie clichés or tropes through cobblestone streets and the set of a Eurotrash dream sequence featuring a midget - although he prefers the term “dwarf”.

I loved, loved, loved In Bruges, if you couldn’t tell. I’m not playing my cards close to the chest on this one, and there’s better movies than this one out there that I won’t ever re-watch half as many times. Movies like this are the ones that keep the inner film nerd alive and well, and I would be a lucky man if I found a movie a month that I loved half as much as this one. Definitely, one-hundred-per-cent recommended by yours truly, In Bruges is funny, suspenseful, cathartic and often just plain weird. But more than that, it tells an interesting story in an interesting way; and at the end of the day, isn’t that why we bother with this whole “moving pictures” thing anyway?

7 down, 358 to go.