Chaminade Cinema of 2008

So I finally saw, on Mike's recommendation, "In Bruges" and was bowled over because, in my ignorance, I thought that Sean's recommendation, "Eldorado" (2008) was the Chaminade Film of 2008. But now I realize that these are two very serious contenders, indeed. So what is it with you Chaminade guys? Picking these movies that are thinly veiled morality plays? I'm scratching my head trying to come up with imaginary ad copy that sounds like: "If you liked "In Bruges" you'll love...." And I did come up with one: "State of Grace" (1990) with Sean Penn and Ed Harris which is a film about NYC Irish mobsters, but, wait, now I'm the one who feels guilty: you guys should be studying hard now and not watching movies...

It turns out that "In Bruges" (2008) is the first feature-length film by Martin McDonagh, the Irish playwright who wrote "The Beauty Queen of Leenane" (1996) which Mary and I saw and liked quite a bit.

"In Bruges" is a Catholic "Pulp Fiction." The screenplay and the acting are both really good. It seems unfair to quibble with his directing, since he's new at it (a soon as the guns come out, do we have to go to slo-mo?) His situation really reminds me of Preston Sturges, a writer from the 30's and 40's who got tired of what other people did with his screenplays and became a director. He made some very good movies, including "The Lady Eve" (1941) and "Sullivan's Travels" (1941) which is kind of an American "8-1/2."

In a dumb coincidence, I just saw "Cassandra's Dream" (2007) in which Colin Farrell plays another guy who's remorseful about killing someone...

Not so trivial Irish postscript: Uncle Don, if you're reading this, this one's for you, and I'm not making this up: Brendon Gleeson, one of the two male leads of "In Bruges"(the heavy-set one) is currently working on the film version of "At Swim-Two-Birds" set to be released in 2010.