Colin Farrell's Tears
Well, this time I'll make no promises! Fall '08 was a blur of actual writing... leaving precious little time for writing-about-writing. But of late I've started to miss Chateau de Reversals, so I'm going to try to get a post up every now and then. When the urge strikes me...
...like it did when I saw In Bruges over the holidays this week. This one was a delightful surprise to many who saw it, and I'm no exception. If you've been wanting to see it, definitely go do that before reading on! The post'll still be here when you get back. Honest.
What really struck me about In Bruges was its contradictions. Often, in writing classes and how-to books (and I'm sure I'm guilty of passing on this misguided advice too...) we're told that characters must be defined. They are consistent in behaviour and voice and responses to adversity. When we like them -- or hate them, or empathize with them -- it's because we acknowledge that this particular little bundle of traits is recognizably our character.
But none of us should confuse consistency of character with great characters behaving one way and one way only. In Bruges is a brilliant example of this. Colin Farrell's character Ray is a bundle of contradictions -- and yet utterly and completely himself. He's an uneducated Irish asshole who refers to beer in a glass rather than a pint as "gay beer", and who has the simpleton's love of dwarves ("They're filming midgets!"). And yet this is also a character who, in our first scene with him, weeps in the bathroom over an as-yet-unrevealed tragedy. For a good chunk of the second act, this character divides his time between being utterly suicidal, and trying to bed a pretty Belgian girl.
Similarly, the villain of the film, Ralph Fiennes's Harry Waters, is at once compassionate, highly principled (especially when it comes to innocent children), and yet also an evil sonofabitch.
These gaps in expectation are where a lot of the humour in the film comes from... but they're also a great reminder that your characters don't have to be tidy to be internally consistent.
Also a great reminder that Colin Farrell really can act, and that Brendan Gleeson continues to kick. Ass.
...like it did when I saw In Bruges over the holidays this week. This one was a delightful surprise to many who saw it, and I'm no exception. If you've been wanting to see it, definitely go do that before reading on! The post'll still be here when you get back. Honest.
What really struck me about In Bruges was its contradictions. Often, in writing classes and how-to books (and I'm sure I'm guilty of passing on this misguided advice too...) we're told that characters must be defined. They are consistent in behaviour and voice and responses to adversity. When we like them -- or hate them, or empathize with them -- it's because we acknowledge that this particular little bundle of traits is recognizably our character.
But none of us should confuse consistency of character with great characters behaving one way and one way only. In Bruges is a brilliant example of this. Colin Farrell's character Ray is a bundle of contradictions -- and yet utterly and completely himself. He's an uneducated Irish asshole who refers to beer in a glass rather than a pint as "gay beer", and who has the simpleton's love of dwarves ("They're filming midgets!"). And yet this is also a character who, in our first scene with him, weeps in the bathroom over an as-yet-unrevealed tragedy. For a good chunk of the second act, this character divides his time between being utterly suicidal, and trying to bed a pretty Belgian girl.
Similarly, the villain of the film, Ralph Fiennes's Harry Waters, is at once compassionate, highly principled (especially when it comes to innocent children), and yet also an evil sonofabitch.
These gaps in expectation are where a lot of the humour in the film comes from... but they're also a great reminder that your characters don't have to be tidy to be internally consistent.
Also a great reminder that Colin Farrell really can act, and that Brendan Gleeson continues to kick. Ass.
Labels: character, expectations
posted by Jennica at 5:00 p.m.
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