Martin McDonagh, an award-winning playwright and Academy Award winner for his short Six Shooter, makes his feature debut with a work that is deliriously funny, pointed, and perverse, yet sad, thoughtful, and infused with a moral vision that resonantly reflects today's surreal world. The film takes place in a storybook setting, the preserved medieval Flemish town of Bruges, where two hit men, Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson), have been ordered to cool their heels among holiday tourists after a botched execution. Though he feels out of place amid the Gothic architecture, canals, and cobbled streets, Ken is drawn to the serenity of the place as he tries to soothe Ray's haunted psyche. As they wait for their boss Harry's (Ralph Fiennes's) call, they are caught up in a series of weird encounters with locals, tourists, a dwarf American filmmaker, and Dutch prostitutes, and a romantic liaison that is not what it seems. When the call finally comes, it prompts a life-and-death struggle that is violent, darkly comic, and surprisingly touching.

The Irish are without peer in making us laugh about ourselves, life, and especially things that aren’t supposed to be funny. The profane brilliance of McDonagh’s writing is all that and more. Galvanized by perceptive performances and framed by a unique beauty, this is filmmaking at its most exhilarating.

Martin McDonagh - Martin McDonagh's first film, Six Shooter, won the 2006 Academy Award for best live-action short film and starred Brendan Gleeson of In Bruges. As a playwright, McDonagh has twice won the Olivier Award—for The Pillowman and The Lieutenant of Inishmore—and been nominated for the Tony Award four times. His other plays include The Cripple of Inishmaan, The Lonesome West, A Skull in Connemara, and The Beauty Queen of Leenane, which was the first of his plays to be produced, first at Galway's Druid Theatre and later in London at the Royal Court Theatre.

Screenings:

Thu. January 17, 6:00pm, Eccles Theatre, Park City
Thu. January 17, 9:30pm, Eccles Theatre, Park City
Fri. January 18, 9:15am, Eccles Theatre, Park City
Fri. January 18, 6:00pm, Screening Room, Sundance Resort
Sun. January 20, 3:30pm, Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, SLC
Sat. January 26, 6:15pm, Eccles Theatre, Park City

Adriene Bowles
Focus Features
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adriene.bowles@focusfeatures.com