Directed by: Martin McDonagh
Written by: Martin McDonagh
Starring: Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson
IMDb Link
With no resolution to her daughter's murder case in sight, Mildred (McDormand) challenges the police department by renting three billboards that depict simple descriptions and a single question, in an effort to publicise her daughter's case and see justice served.
The movie plays with the idea of justice, however, juxtaposing strong idealism with just as strong emotion that sways it, showing a strong understanding of how much our emotions of anger and hatred conflict with those of calm and love. On its own, that might sound a little cheesy, but the film frames it so naturally, simply showing the cause and effect of these emotionally-fuelled actions in order to prove its point, building investment in such comprehensively fleshed out characters so that we can move through the emotional spectrum with them, understanding their actions as they are taken but feeling catharsis when we see them learn and grow.
Martin McDonagh's writing is expected to be excellent at this point, but in Three Billboards it is positively masterful. He combines his usual sharp wit with soul-crushing realism, scant moments where characters stop being clever to remind you that they are people, or at least that they're learning to be complete human beings. This is the greatest strength in McDonagh's writing in this film: not the clever jokes and deftly hurled insults, although they are amazing, but in the sheer detail he injects in to his characters to make them feel real, a broken person trying to keep themselves together, antagonistic banter broken up by heavy realisations, people characterised initially by their terrible actions becoming more empathetic than other films actual protagonists. This extends to the side characters as well, who are given enough flavour to feel like the real people you see from time to time but never really know well, dealing with their own lives as a reminder of how the world continues to move around these events.
All of this is presented excellently by the powerful performances of the cast. Frances McDormand is brutally honest as the mother whose actions are her way of crying because all she wants is her daughter back. The rare moments where she stops being hard and rude to everyone around her are tempered with a dissolution of the facade, and we see the loss beneath. McDormand is absolutely immersed in the role, every second on screen she embodies Mildred as she is in that moment. Likewise, Harrelson is the perfect counter to her, calm and fatherly to the community, caring but never emotionally loud; even his attempts to be angry at another officer over his dinner being interrupted feel feigned, as all he really wants is to show care to the people around him. On the other side there's also Rockwell, running perfectly parallel to McDormand, you feel his every emotion and you see how he sees himself compared to how we see him, and how the emotion that clouds his judgement slowly recedes. It's all made real by Rockwell.
The Short Version: Three Billboards is a powerhouse of acting and writing, filled with charged moments and electrifying dialogue that meaningfully contrasts the funny with the depressing and the absurd with the realistic. This is a fantastic way to start off the year.
Rating: 9/10
Published January 1st, 2018
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