"How does 'In Bruges' use mise-en-scene to reflect and develop the characters of Ray, Ken and Harry? How do the Performance styles of Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes also reflect and develop the characters?"
"In Bruges" is a film of two hitmen, Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) who have been sent to Bruges to hide out by their boss, Harry (Ralph Fiennes).The location of Bruges is quite clever as it highlights the characters personalities. A good example of this is the way it brings out the experienced vs the apprentice convention of this dark comedy; as Ken has an interest of the beauty of the medieval city on the other hand Ray is bigoted of Bruges. The reason for the trip to Bruges in the first is because Harry had decided to send them there to kill Ray. The reason for this I believe is not only because Harry wanted to give Ray a "good last time" but also the isolation of the location. They say that Bruges is the most untouched medieval town in Belgium. This connotes that not many people know of it and as it is untouched modern facilities such as entertainment establishments have not been erected. And so not many young people would travel there as they're not accustomed to the placid society.
At the start of the film when Ken and Ray begin to explore the town Colin hunches over and pulls the collar up on his coat. He then squints his eyes at the enjoyment of Ken in this dull town. This gives the audience the impression of not only how cold the weather is but due to the length of the coat and dark colour Ray seems like a recluse. As if he's trying to shut the world out from him and his thoughts and blend into the background.
The costume change at the resolution for Ken I found to be significant. This is because he puts on his 'best suit' before meeting Harry. You see that he is ready to accept his fate. The action is highlighted by Brendan's face relaxing and no longer being tense also the fiddling with his wedding ring; ready for Ken and his wide to reunite.
Harry tends to always have a suit on, which makes his character seem like he's always on, always ready to sort out a problem. His business suit, which makes him a strong willed character that follows a set of rules, seems to reflect his character in the way of having morals and always following them even if it's a matter of life and death - as seen in the mistaken child incident and he shoots himself. As he is dressed so refined compared to the other two it shows a superiority over the others.
The use of guns in the scene where Harry is getting equipped has developed his character in the way that we as the audience understand him more. As he says "I'm not gonna kill 10 black kids on a drive-by" highlights a part of the message of the play of how intolerant they are of racism . Ralph does well in this scene as he creates an intimating ambiance by showing no emotion on his cold, set face. His posture, quite rigid, also remains the same throughout however has quite fluid movements which makes him deadly.
At first Ray has had a full lighting on his face so that we are able to see him properly - this allows us as the audience to view him in a lighter way, simply see what Colin wants us to see at the time. As the film goes on the light on Ray seems to either grayscale or shadow over connoting how in this quiet town he is going deeper and deeper into his own thoughts about suicide.
Weekly Class Performance w/c 30th Sept:
ReplyDeleteKoro, you are continuing to make good progress in class, answering questions and keeping on task. I feel your homework could sometimes be a little more detailed. In relation to 'In Bruges', you make some good points of relevance, particularly about use of costume to reflect character development. You could have made much more of the use of 'Bruges' as a location, and how the miss-en-scene throughout the film (different parts of Bruges) helps us to understand/sympathise with the characters. Your structure could also be a little clearer. The best way to structure this would be clearly by character (a paragraph on each). Grade C.