Completely Original

Rating: 10/10 (5 August 2019)

I think what I like best about this movie is the sheer unconventionality and originality that went into crafting the story. I can safely say I have never before seen a film about a billboard dispute in a small town. Really, this is a film about a small town where everyone knows everybody, and everything about their business; the subtle character development and relationships changes are more important than the events that happen. It's also the characters that give this town such a rich feeling. The public's perception of Mildred also becomes a character (just like how mob mentality becomes a character in Fritz Lang's "M"); we get glimpses of how the town feels from her interactions with her friend Denise (Amanda Warren, "Mother!"), with her son (Lucas Hedges, "Ben is Back"), the town midget (Peter Dinklage, "Living in Oblivion") and even Willoughby's wife Anne (Abbie Cornish, "Sucker Punch"). Building up this town with its diverse populous gives us a town that feels wholly unique, and while not all the characters are given enough room to grow, I would say probably 90% of the characters in this film show some sort of growth over the course of this film. That, in my opinion, is quite impressive; to establish an entire town and, without going completely off the rails, change every character in that town in some way.