Directed by Martin McDonagh
2017 Comedy Drama
1 hour 55 minutes
From Fox Searchlight
Starring
Frances McDormand
Woody Harrelson
Sam Rockwell
Abbie Cornish
Lucas Hedges
Caleb Landry Jones
Zeljko Ivanek
Peter Dinklage
John Hawkes
You feeling kinda quirky and looking for something to satisfy those tastes? Well, look no further. Hey, c'mon, you knew by the title alone that this was gonna take you down a path where you can't be really sure where it's all gonna lead. And you can count on offbeat when Frances McDormand has the lead role, too. You haven't forgotten Fargo (1996), have you?
I and several other patrons at our little art house theater were certain the Coen brothers were attached to this somehow. Not only does it feel a great deal like them but again, there's McDormand who is married to Joel Coen. Well, I didn't find any other Coen connection but am still guessing there's something here. Perhaps an homage to them from the director? Are they his idols? I'm gonna have to do some nosing around.
In a little redneck berg of a town, a mother (McDormand), distraught over her daughter's murder months earlier and the fact that her killer(s) has not been caught, shames the police by calling them out on three billboards. If the town has been sympathetic to her tragedy, they certainly don't feel the same about her tactics.
She has a mouth like a stevedore, she gets in people's faces, a few get kneed in the groin, her son thinks she's gone too far and her ex-husband is less than supportive. She doesn't search for the assailants herself as much as she harasses the cops for not doing their jobs.
Surprisingly she gets the most support from the one she's trying to shame, the chief of police (Harrelson). He communicates effectively that he understands her pain and is sorry that nothing has turned up. He adds, of course, that the case is never closed. He asks for her understanding in return when he tells her he is dying of cancer. He doesn't get it. This is one tough and embittered mama.
We meet the chief's loving wife (Cornish), his right-hand man (Rockwell) who doesn't seem to have a scintilla of gray matter, the accommodating city government official (Jones) who arranges for McDormand to rent the billboards and who suffers for doing so, the son (Hedges) who loves his mother but is embarrassed by her, and an ex-husband (Hawkes) who makes it quite clear why he's divorced, and a dwarf (Dinklage), a rare Ebbing resident who supports the angry mother the most.
If this all sounds highly dramatic, it is. The violence is there but not excessive throughout. For some of us there's that fear factor that seems to be in small southern towns... that inescapable feeling that just anything could go wrong. I love that, too, when it's done well. Of course, there's the language, much of it coming from McDormand, and some of it takes your breath away considering who's saying what to whom.
A word here about the profanity. There seems to be no boundaries this film doesn't cross and I can deal with it. I knew what I was getting into when I bought my ticket. The language, whether of a sexual, bodily or racial nature, was how I expected it would be in a story of a one-horse southern town. But when I recently saw Goodbye Christopher Robin, a film nothing like this one, the coming-attractions for Three Billboards contained f-bombs and the c-word... and that is just so wrong. There were young children in the audience. Shame on Fox Searchlight for choosing to do that. Get some class.
The film also has shards of emotion, none better expressed than when McDormand is sitting on her dead daughter's bed and remembering their final time together. We see it in flashback and it choked me up.
With all this heavy drama, what this film also has is great comedy woven throughout the entire screenplay. Actually, I laughed myself silly and it's likely that you would as well. I almost want to call this a black comedy but it doesn't necessarily fit the spirit of the definition (making light of a taboo subject) but it is certainly a dark one.
If you like these actors, then this is the film for you. Without question, they are the best thing about it. McDormand fans will be giddy about having her back in a role like this. She possesses an unerring sense of timing. She is so forceful and yet understated. She positively excels at that icy stare, her face looking like it's in a state of paralysis. On the other hand she knows how to handle dialogue, too, given how she lacerates a priest visiting her home. My jaw was dropping while several of my fellow patrons were applauding. As she faces down the heartbreak and the isolation, she superbly takes us on the grim journey with her. And while we're at it, this is a great woman's role. Director McDonagh, who also wrote the piece, says he did so with McDormand in mind.
This is a sensational role for Harrelson. Isn't it a hoot to consider that he is the adult in the room? Woody Harrelson! It's not as showy a role as some of the others, but it is one that touches the heart.
Rockwell doesn't like that his boss is being embarrassed and becomes angered when Harrelson doesn't handle things as Rockwell thinks he should. He takes matters into his own hands. With some assistance from his loony mother, it becomes completely apparent he's dangerously not playing with a full deck. This role gives the film most of its edgy drama and Rockwell nails it. I'd love to see this work get a little attention in the upcoming awards season.
As for McDonagh, hats off to him for drawing such conscientious characterizations for these actors to portray. We actually learn some motivations about them and understand them, even if we don't like them all. I admire how nearly everyone was flawed. His directing is also admirable. He certainly has a thing for quirky crime films, given In Bruges (2008) and Seven Psychopaths (2012).
Obviously he is one who likes the familiarity of working with people he knows. Harrelson, Rockwell, Cornish and Ivanek were also in Psychopaths. Ivanek was in Bruges. And without McDonagh, McDormand and Harrelson worked together in North Country (2005).
I would have likely praised it more had I liked the ending-- the last 10 minutes or so-- but I didn't.
I guess there really is an Ebbing, Missouri. One wonders how they feel about this. Interestingly, Sylva, North Carolina, fills in for Ebbing.
Next posting:
Another movie review
(Tis the season)
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