Martin McDonagh strikes another hit with this quirky, off-beat drama

Rating: 9/10 (11 June 2018)

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
In the small, mid-western town of Ebbing, Missouri, the daughter of Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand) has been raped and murdered, and months have passed without any suspect being caught. In an act of desperation, she hires three large billboards leading into the town to put up some messages to embarrass the town's cancer stricken chief of police Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) into action. However, Mildred's actions come to have a far higher effect on more people than merely Willoughby, not least the volatile Officer Dixon (Sam Rockwell), and a host of others who prove less than sympathetic to her plight...
Ten years on, and Martin McDonagh's Belgian set comedy thriller In Bruges still remains one of the most memorable films of the last decade or so, with its witty, sharp dialogue and excruciating political incorrectness. And yet since then, this film proves only the second directorial feature he's made, a steady drip stream of work that even Quentin Tarantino would struggle to topple. His name is far less likely to seep into the cultural consciousness as that man's did, but when he pens a quality script, he hits a zinger, as this very impressive piece of work is further prove of.
McDonagh has selected a seasoned cast list of mature performers that are unlikely to appeal to the general target demographic of cinema goers, but will certainly whet the beaks of the more mature film-goers, and each one of them, including McDormand, Harrelson and Rockwell, is perfectly suited to their role and deliver fine performances. It's McDonagh's distinctive style that drives the film, though, able as he is to take such a dark, tragic plotline and give it such a darkly humorous edge, whilst never losing the emotionally charged dramatic under-current that keeps it all flowing.
He's certainly quite a shy, occasional director, but if McDonagh can consistently produce this kind of quality work, it's a shame that he doesn't pop his head out more often. ****