HOPEFUL

The Golden Globes gave a lot of love to IN BRUGES, the quirky, dark comedy from early 2008 that got a lot of fantastic reviews and did decent box office in limited release. This is one of those little gems that often gets overlooked at year's end during the awards blitz. At the Globes, the film got nominations for Best Picture (Musical/Comedy) and for the performances of two of its stars, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. The surprise of the night was when Farrell won Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy. I have been a huge fan of Farrell's work, especially in the last few years. He's had a brilliant run of performances in some of the best, most interesting pictures of the decade, which include TIGERLAND, MINORITY REPORT, INTERMISSION, A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD, ALEXANDER, THE NEW WORLD, ASK THE DUST, MIAMI VICE, CASSANDRA'S DREAM, and most recently, IN BRUGES. I'd love to see a little love from the Academy next week when they announce their nominations for both Farrell's work and the film itself. I know IN BRUGES stands zero chance of a Best Picture nomination, but a Best Original Screenplay nomination would be extremely well deserved. And Farrell's performance, a combination of the prickly and the sympathetic, was his most layered, most nuanced, and richest yet. If you missed IN BRUGES when it was in theaters, do yourself a favor and rent it soon. It's a heady mixture of comedy, violence, hit-man pathos, and internal self-reflection that all adds up to a helluva flick.