A Dark Story With A Quirky Vein Of Humour.

Rating: 9/10 (4 February 2018)

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri: A dark film with a quirky sense of humour running through it. Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand) has had enough, months have passed and the police are no closer to catching her daughters killers so she rents billboards haranguing the local police for their lack of action and singling out Chief Willoughby (Woody Harrelson). This swiftly brings her into conflict with the police and in particular Officer Dixon (Sam Rockwell).
This is a story about small town Southern life, it would be easy to characterise some of the characters as slack jawed idiots but perhaps their apparent stupidity is due to limited horizons and insular thinking. Dixon in particular comes across as rather dumb and racist but develops when given an opportunity. Much more of the films spleen is vented on the town's authority figures such as the Roman Catholic Priest who calls around to chide Mildred about the billboards. In one short scene she destroys his arguments and knocks him from the moral high ground he thinks he holds.
Chief Willoughby is a far more complex character who we learn is suffering from terminal cancer. He has sympathy with Mildred and shows his support in practical ways. Mildred herself is no saint and some of her demands are impractical and authoritarian. She is prone to violence with a fiery temper but then has also suffered from domestic abuse. No one has an easy life in Ebbing. There are dark, disturbing and violent scenes throughout the film but the vein of humour which runs through it is uplifting and counters the sadness. A central message is that redemption is possible. There are no Angels in this tale and perhaps just one Demon.
Superb acting from McDormand, Harrelson and Rockwell with a convincing script, dialogue and direction by Martin McDonagh. 9/10.