Surprisingly Appalling and Funny

Rating: 9/10 (7 December 2017)

"3 Billboards," as it should have simply been titled (not like we'll confuse it with all of the other films of that title...), was a surprising treat I might never have seen. It looked too dark and violent for my monthly dinner and a movie night with a buddy. We usually confine our nights out to comic book violence (if any) while avoiding the tender films our wives want to see with us. But on a Monday night, in early December, there was nothing else to see.
"Slim pickings," he texted me. "Skip the movie and just have dinner together?," he asked.
My quick check of Flixster indicated the same, except for this film I'd not heard of. It had high critical ratings, but that doesn't always mean it's something enjoyable for non-film critics, so I was encouraged by high User ratings too. We decided to give it a shot.
How lucky was that? Lucky. :-)
It's a truly great, interesting, disturbing, funny and unpredictable film I might never have seen otherwise.
This is not a Cohen Brothers. film. It's written and directed by Martin McDonagh. But there is an ambiance that invites comparison (McDonagh has most certainly been at a few Co-Bro screenings) and a cast so good they could phone it in for either director. For me, the Cohen Bros are hit and miss in terms of watchability. Yes, everything they do is gold, I know. Sigh. But some of it is too violent and stomach turning. They like to paint their horrors far too graphically for my tastes. Perhaps it's supposed to be wry, funny or ironic, but for me, the world is already full of those horrors. I don't need more haunting my dreamscape.
"3 Billboards" brought me right to the edge of my squeamishness without having to hang over the balcony with dry heaves. (Um,probably could have come up with a less graphic metaphor)
Frances McDormand is outstanding.
I can't see how she will NOT get an Oscar nomination for this role. I couldn't take my eyes off her face and was never sure what Mildred was going to do next. She's nearly fearless in facing down foes in this film. But she's also flawed and says things she clearly regrets. The last scene we see with Mildred and her daughter yelling at each other is brutal. Knowing Mildred shouted, "I hope you get raped!" as the last thing she said to her before that very thing happens and she's brutally murdered? It leaves a horrible, guilty silence in the room and the stomach. We can see Mildred carry this weight through the rest of the film. There's no attempt to make the daughter an angel either and that made everything make sense to me. All of these characters are looking for some kind of redemption and everyone has their own personal list of demons to slay.
Even though his performance is likely to be overlooked, Lucas Hedges, who plays Mildred's son, Robbie, it solid throughout. We see his embarrassment and pride in his mother subtly woven into his facial reactions, silent or otherwise. He's one of the rare leads in the film that doesn't appear to need redeeming.
Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson will definitely have the Academy looking at their work as well. This movie is nothing if not a character study. Who we think everyone is in beginning, is not who they reveal themselves to be by the end. Strange bedfellows allows this film to avoid a lot of the clichés that might have otherwise permeated the writing.
Are there a few plot holes and unexplained moments? Of course there are. The selective enforcement of law in this town is mysterious to say the least.
But I'm also aware this film is, in many ways, a stage play too. Without trying to sound terribly obvious, I felt the plot was really a device to hold characters' feet (sometimes literally) to the fire. It's enjoyable to watch a film that's in such good hands but doesn't reveal where it's going.
While I understood the decision to leave our 2 unlikely allies on the road together wondering if they should kill the rapist whose DNA did not link him to the Ebbing killing, I would still have enjoyed watching more of that journey and possible confrontation. It's almost like McDonagh could make a second film that begins in the car where the movie ends. I think he'd still have plenty to entertain us with. At the very least, perhaps we could explain the very tense meeting in the gift shop and why this rapist from out of state seemed to hate Mildred to the point of an intentionally hostile confrontation (which she's ironically rescued from by the dead sheriff's widow!).
Speaking of Harrelson's Sheriff, Willoughby ends up being surprisingly more sympathetic than expected. The Sheriff's voiceovers and letters are a nice touch for some of that unforeseen information. Rockwell is pathetic and disgusting as Dixon, the dim witted alcoholic, white trash/racist cop who is partially redeemed(?) in the fires. His chain smoking, white trashy mother, played perfectly by Sandy Martin, is almost more creepy than Dixon. Martin nails it. All of the scenes with her leave one wanting to run from the disgusting smoke, booze and world view.
There are many notable performances and Caleb Landry Jones (who plays Red, the guy leasing the billboards) is another that seemed to refreshingly avoid clichés. In some ways, he is the beginning of the "forgiveness" of Dixon.
3 Billboards makes me wish I was in film school so we could discuss the characters and their choices in greater depth.
Not a bad thing when I film does that.
Not bad at all. :-)