Before there were tweets, there were billboards

Rating: 10/10 (24 November 2017)

I'm not sure where the seed for this gem of a story originated, but I can't help but wonder if the three billboards so central to the plot were inspired by the modern catharsis we see pouring out on a daily basis on social media. Before social media, you needed to put your message on billboards to really put yourself relentlessly out there in people's faces. The movie has all the essential elements - a flawlessly written tale, award-worthy acting, and beautiful cinematography and editing. It is both eccentrically funny and tragically sad at the same time, but manages to make so many philosophical points about crime, justice, bigotry, hypocrisy, ignorance, death, and grief. Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, and Woody Harrelson create three larger-than-billboard characters whose lives become angrily and hilariously entangled over an unsolved murder. Frances McDormand's Mildred is astonishing, from the tender moments in the car imagining the billboards, to her smoldering conversation with the parish priest (best.thing.ever), to her guilt-ridden reminiscence of her last hours with her daughter. A brilliant film not to be missed.