Touching, funny, intriguing - all you could hope for

Rating: 8/10 (28 January 2018)

"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" is the fourth directorial effort by British Oscar-winning filmmaker Martin McDonagh and as I must say I am quite a fan of his previous 3 directorial efforts, I cannot deny that my hopes for this one here were pretty high too. Of course, they also were because of the massive deal of awards recognition this has received in the last couple months. It is one of the films that has a shot at taking home Best Picture at the Oscars this year. It runs for slightly under 2 hours and takes us on a journey into the life of Mildred Hayes, who fights the local police department hoping this is gonna speed things up in the difficult task of finding her daughter's killer. The police gets represented by the performances of Rockwell and Harrelson here and Rockwell (like McDormand) seems in a safe spot for an Oscar win too now. There are other known actors in here like Cornish, Ivanek, Dinklage, Hedges, Hawkes etc. But it really is McDormand's film for the most part and I can see why they did not put Rockwell in lead. Still, a shout-out to my man Woody Harrelson who is having another fantastic year with this one and his turn in The Glass Castle. We talked about that one on another occasion already. As for this one here though, his voice-over sequences were among the very best it had to offer. And also the most touching. Hearing his letters that he wrote before his suicide is really heartbreaking stuff, especially the one to his wife, but also the one to Dixon. As for the one to his wife, the comment about how seeing her pain is worse than the privileges of spending a few more days with his daughters is good will easily wet your eyes. The one to Dixon goes well in hand with another really well-written scene as the moment Dixon changes for the better and saves the file from the flames had really so much to offer. In general, I think McDonagh did an amazing job with the writing, especially the dialogue writing. It was spot-on and often also very funny, but dark humor is something you expect here as it is omnipresent in all his previous works too. The ****head that is also in the trailer is among the very best comedic moments of the entire year.
Another thing I want to mention about this film is the subject of forgiveness. Of course, Mildred won't forgive the killer of her daughter, but it is a subject that keeps coming back, especially in the second half, be it either the orange juice scene, the scene with Dixon forgiving Mildred for the fire, or both sort of forgiving the other potential killer at the very end inside the car. The film ends the perfect moment, even if it was a bit expected. This is the first moment when we see the central character showing something like forgiveness at all, even before she was not ready to remove the Willoughby billboard despite his death. It's a key to having a happier life again as grief is of course still there, but it is not everything. Dinklage's character (McDonagh sure has it with midget humor) described in one scene nicely how McDormand's character is always sad and negative and this may change in all that happens after the film now that she let forgiveness in her heart to some extent at least. As for Dinklage's character, I liked that they were not really shoving a out-of-nowhere love story in our faces then, but that it ends after the date because of obstacles both characters yet have to overcome. McDonagh also does a great job with realism because honestly having the killer sit coincidentally at the very same pub all of a sudden the very same time that Rockwell's character does would have been a shot of one in a million and nothing remotely authentic. So it's good it was somebody else. There was really not a lot I didn't like in here. The first sentence about torturing blacks that is also featured in the trailer had a bit of Hollywood liberalism written all over it while the n-word and torture fun scene afterwards was pretty hilarious without a doubt. In terms of gay-themed references, the same is true too. Struggling a bit with the inclusion, but solid elaboration. The only scene I really did not like was the flashback sequence when we see the daughter when she was still alive and honestly how they talk about her murder feels really out of place and too big of a coincidence. Then again, it is not elaborated on properly as this could have been fictitious in Mildred's mind as well or it could have been another talk, not the one that directly came before she went off and got killed. So as a whole, I very much enjoyed this film, the cast is outstanding, the script is really really good and the other components like the music, especially the songs used, are top-notch too. I'd be happy if this really wins Best Picture at the Oscars as it would be deserving, one of the best films of the year, not my personal number one, but I highly recommend checking it out and it's a shame McDonagh did not get the Best Director nomination. You really don't wanna miss this one. Watch it now!