You've got to get the hell on down

to the Grande theater at Friendly to see In Bruges. Don't worry - you won't have to read subtitles. Though the story is set in Belgium, it involves English gangsters. I'm a big fan of offbeat gangster movies, and this one rates in my list of top three favorites. In Bruges has been compared to Pulp Fiction. I guess I can't argue that there are some parallels, but there's no man-raping in this movie and the violence is a little more sparsely applied. I'd rather compare In Bruges to Ghost Dog, a martial-arts/gangster combo starring Forrest Whitaker. They're alike in that they examine the moral code of contract killers, and how adherence to this code sometimes requires a large capacity for selfless behavior.

This film is a fascinating weave of intricate plot elements, surprising turns, and characters who are a tasty combination of obnoxious and endearing. In Bruges stars Colin Farrell, Ralph Fiennes and Peter Dinklage, who some may remember as the star of The Station Agent, another movie I respect much, though it's not about gangsters.

English gangsters haven't gotten the cinematic exposure that Italian Americans have, so that in itself is refreshing. If you find you like In Bruges, you should rent The Krays. The Kray brothers were total badasses in the English organized crime world back in the 60s, and this movie gives a fascinating look at the East End (London) culture that gave rise to them. The slang is really catchy, though hard to understand at times.

WARNING: ONCOMING DIGRESSION - I worked in an East End pub for a brief stint after college. The father of my boss, it was rumored, had to leave the country for a while in his youth because he'd beaten up one of the younger, less well-known Kray brothers. And the DJ who hosted karaoke every week was a former champion boxer who had a bit part in The Krays. One night there was a major scene when a drunk, skanky biker chick tried to initiate a fistfight with this man. She was screaming something about a "Mars Bar." I thought, damn, you are hardcore when you're a skinny girl willing to try to beat up a former male boxing champion because he ate your chocolate. But later I found out "Mars Bar" is cockney rhyming slang for "scar," and either she was threatening to give him one or expressing her displeasure because she thought he'd offered to give her one. I didn't think it was possible for people to be so urban and so redneck at the same time.

If In Bruges and The Krays whet your appetite for international gangster movies, you definitely need to check out those of Takeshi (Beat) Kitano. They're in Japanese, so chances are you'll require subtitles. Kitano, who started out as a comedian, makes unbelievably violent, heartbreaking and funny gangster films, many of which he stars in. Sorry to disappoint those of you who are into martial arts, but Kitano's gangsters mostly just shoot each other. Now, if you're into manual violence, you might enjoy Violent Cop. This is the man-slappingest movie I've ever seen. Here Kitano raises the slap, which most people think of as an assault tactic specific to teen girls, to the level of martial art. It has to be seen to be believed.

But I have to recommend Sonatine as a better example of his work.

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[Billy The Blogging Poet]

All I need do to watch gangsta's is look out my window.