I finally watched "In Bruges", and it was more than I was expecting, more than I wanted, and I love it for that.

Perhaps it's just my conventional movie going tastes, I rarely stray out of English language films, and my taste is more often than not relegated to American film, but "In Bruges" was beyond anything I was expecting.

When I heard it was a dark comedy starring Colin Farrell about two men stuck in a Belgian town for two weeks, I thought "That sounds like it could be the funniest thing ever."

To my surprise I got a very, very, very dark, visceral, existential film about life, death, suicide, and what we do with what we're given. A bit of a shock when this is your poster.

It made me think about where films are now. "In Bruges" came out in 2008 and I don't think I have been this affected by a film dealing with these themes of pressure, fear of death, and all that other stuff. Perhaps "Whiplash" came close, "Whiplash" was a little different however. But "Whiplash" is beside the point.

The point is, I think movies need to go further. "In Bruges" was a big film when it came out. Why aren't there more films that take those extra steps? That go a little darker and treat it with the respect that the darkness not only deserves, but also requires in order to be taken seriously.

It may just be my relatively narrow view of film, but if anyone knows of any recent films that have done the same as "In Bruges" did, I'd love to hear them.

Submitted September 29, 2016 at 11:42AM by VioletLaVida http://ift.tt/2cXrodn