The Golden Globe nominees were announced this morning with many scratching their heads. Those who aren’t film buffs were asking themselves what these strange non-mainstream movies were that were being nominated for best film of the year or best actor of the year. Where’s The Dark Knight is a common question by someone that may have seen the list. Heath Ledger did receive a posthumous tip of the hat for his portrayal of the Joker, but can it really be that the film wasn’t given a nomination because it’s a “superhero movie” despite its quality. Oh well…at least Heath’s talent was recognized.
What I find to be interesting when reading the list though is the amount of films that were nominated and aren’t even released yet. What do these Golden Globes people know that we don’t? How come they get all of the privileges? The Curious Case of Benjamin Button leads the race with the most amount of nominations and it doesn’t even come out for another two weeks. Also vying for the “Best Motion Picture - Drama” is the yet-to-be-released Frost/Nixon.
One film I found very puzzling to see listed was In Bruges, nominated for “Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical” and with nominations for Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture.” Now I really don’t know what’s going on. I remember being bombarded by trailers for this film and vowing to myself I would never see it no matter what happened. What turned me off so much was both that the trailer annoyed me and that I saw it everywhere I looked.
But when I saw that it was nominated several times, I actually went out of my way to view this movie to see what it was all about, and was pleasantly surprised. The trailer makes it seem like the whole movie is just about the goofy antics of hitmen hiding out after a job. Well, there definitely is a lot of witty and funny dialogue, but there’s so much more depth and emotion packed into it that make it a contender for the best movie of the year. It is about the story of two hitmen who are sent to Bruges, Belgium, after a mishap occurs during an assassination. It’s this mishap that brings both mental and physical distress on Colin Farrell’s character. I’m actually thinking about maybe watching this one more time because I feel there was a lot of good insight to how to live your life and be happy with yourself, even if you kill people for a living. Go out and rent this and possibly catch some of the other top nominees opening this weekend.
Landon Cassman: Through boredom and pure enjoyment I find myself always involved in either film or music related endeavors. This is one of them.
Comments
Landon Cassman (Landon Cassman) says:
(Posted December 14th, 2008 at 12:18 pm)
I agree that the film definitely deserved some well-needed recognition. I feel like not enough people have seen it, by looking at the box-office numbers, and that many more people should go out and enjoy it. Thanks Joy!
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Landon Cassman
Through boredom and pure enjoyment I find myself always involved in either film or music related endeavors. This is one of them.
Joy (Joy) says:
(Posted December 13th, 2008 at 1:37 pm)
Yes, I’ve actually seen In Bruges. I saw it in the theater when it was released. Then, when it went onto DVD, I bought that and must have watched it at least 10 times (probably more!) There really is so much depth to this movie. As you said, it is not just about silly antics of two hitmen hiding out after a bad hit. There is a tremendous character study within the film. Colin Farrell’s character is completely tormented by the mishap and the interaction bewteen the characters played by Colin Farrell, Brendon Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes is superb! Yes, there is definitely some very witty dialogue in this film. I’ve never seen Colin play a character like this and it was like a breath of fresh air. I thought he was astounding.
I did have to watch it a few times though. Basically, each time I saw it, I noticed the humanity and fragility of each of the characters which I did not take note of when I saw it in the theater. Regardless of the fact that we are talking about hit men, there was still a “code of honor” amongst them.
As far as I am concerned, the nominations could not be more well deserved! I would agree with you that people go out and rent this, and really watch the characters interaction. Forget about the language, forget about what they do for a living — just watch the film and I think most who see it will be very pleasantly surprised by some very touching, funny and amazingly brilliant script and acting … In Bruges!