the mad ones

last night i watched in bruges.

finally.

it had taken several conversations about it, and one failed attempt at PVR before i got it right.

but at some point, i did, and there it was, in black and yellow on the PVR playlist.

i knew that colin farrell was in it, and that was all.

and i'm glad.

i loved the dark, narrated intro, the old/modern medieval city setting, and the idea that a place can be fairytale-like to one person, and a literal version of hell to someone else.

i liked the scene in the park, the happy colours of the fairground playthings contrasted with the slick and simple black of a silencer.

but mostly, i liked the contrast between the irish hitmen, the big eared, big hearted stalwart versus the insecure, troubled amateur.

i enjoyed the fact that the big guy wanted to explore all the medieval aspects, from the churches to the canals, but the other didn't, because he was trapped in hell, in his own head.

i was intrigued by the blatantly criminal characters, and the realization that maybe life is only as engaging as the people in it.

and that sometimes, it's the most bizarre, psychotic, and flawed characters that are the most entertaining, and the ones that influence your experience of a place most.

like in a similarly medieval animation i watched religiously as a child.

the adventures of the gummi bears.

a family of american accented bears, addicted to juice, living underground in an antiquated anglo-themed landscape. with castles and a persistent evil man with a silly beard and purple dress.

who is followed insistently by the battered diminutive green ogre, toadwart, obsessed with serving his hook-nosed master.

he is a neurotic, dependent creature, but definitely the most amusing character in the show.

he too lives in his own version of hell, but instead of bruges it's drekmore, a strange, dark land of exploding puff balls and sabre-toothed rabbits.

like in bruges, the defining characters of the gummi bears series are the maligned ones, the gang of unsatisfied obsessives that keep threatening to upset the balance.

they're the ones who keep it interesting.

this is something i have come to realize often, especially considering the variety of people i met in the bars, hostels and streets of gringo-friendly south america.

my naivete often led to spending too much time with regrettably disturbed and annoying people.

but sadly, few as memorable as the ones in bruges.

i'm convinced i have yet to meet an irish hitman.

and i haven't seen a psychedelic dwarf dream sequence.

yet.