Next up in our Oscar-palooza is Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Near a small rural town, a grieving mother pays to have a trio of road signs read, "Raped While Dying," "And Still No Arrests," and "How Come, Chief Willoughby?" It's an act meant to provoke and get a reaction, and does it ever. Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand) has lost her daughter to a horrific act of violence and nothing's being done. You don't just "move on" from something like that, and as the top law enforcement officer in the area, Mildred holds Chief Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) accountable.
You just don't do that kind of thing in a small town. You fit in and you play ball - at least, you're expected to. But Mildred knows she's got more than the usual amount of leeway as a grieving parent, and she's not the type of personality who just goes along to get along. Not by a long shot.
While Three Billboards doesn't declare itself as "based on a true story," it was inspired by one. Director Martin McDonagh (In Bruges) saw similar signs while on a cross-country road trip, placed outside of Vidor, Texas by the Fulton family. They stuck with him, and in our #MeToo era where too often women face an uphill climb for justice, the story resonates all too well.
Things are complicated by the Chief's second-in-command, a violent racist played by the superb Sam Rockwell, and by Willoughby's own personal secrets. I won't say more about the plot, as McDonagh's written a terrific script with excellent characters. Mildred is a challenging personality to begin with, but her grief and anger are driving her to extremes. McDormand does some of her absolute best work here, which is saying something. Rockwell is always a fantastic presence and he's superb here. The character is hateful and violent, yet like Game of Thrones' Jaime Lannister, you find your feelings towards him changing, at times very surprisingly. But I really felt it's Harrelson who impacted me the most. Willoughby is beautifully written and the humanity Harrelson brings to his work here is really something. Zeljko Ivanek, John Hawkes and Peter Dinklage all turn in terrific supporting performances as well.
As harsh as the plot is, there's a lot of dark comedy as well that's generally very well done. Though Three Billboards also joins the increasingly long list of films that painfully insists on using the R-word, thinking they somehow get a pass because they have an ignorant rural character say it, and that somehow that "realism" justifies its use. You're not doing anyone any favors, but perpetuating a hurtful stigma that just continues being repeated thanks to your exposure.
For me, the ending of Three Billboards is where it felt least like a true story, and more like narrative artifice, though I think I'm warming up to it. At the end of the day, Three Billboards is overall a tremendous film about loss and pain and anger, and what can happen when the emotions from both sides collide - and maybe even briefly see each others' point of view.
You just don't do that kind of thing in a small town. You fit in and you play ball - at least, you're expected to. But Mildred knows she's got more than the usual amount of leeway as a grieving parent, and she's not the type of personality who just goes along to get along. Not by a long shot.
While Three Billboards doesn't declare itself as "based on a true story," it was inspired by one. Director Martin McDonagh (In Bruges) saw similar signs while on a cross-country road trip, placed outside of Vidor, Texas by the Fulton family. They stuck with him, and in our #MeToo era where too often women face an uphill climb for justice, the story resonates all too well.
Things are complicated by the Chief's second-in-command, a violent racist played by the superb Sam Rockwell, and by Willoughby's own personal secrets. I won't say more about the plot, as McDonagh's written a terrific script with excellent characters. Mildred is a challenging personality to begin with, but her grief and anger are driving her to extremes. McDormand does some of her absolute best work here, which is saying something. Rockwell is always a fantastic presence and he's superb here. The character is hateful and violent, yet like Game of Thrones' Jaime Lannister, you find your feelings towards him changing, at times very surprisingly. But I really felt it's Harrelson who impacted me the most. Willoughby is beautifully written and the humanity Harrelson brings to his work here is really something. Zeljko Ivanek, John Hawkes and Peter Dinklage all turn in terrific supporting performances as well.
As harsh as the plot is, there's a lot of dark comedy as well that's generally very well done. Though Three Billboards also joins the increasingly long list of films that painfully insists on using the R-word, thinking they somehow get a pass because they have an ignorant rural character say it, and that somehow that "realism" justifies its use. You're not doing anyone any favors, but perpetuating a hurtful stigma that just continues being repeated thanks to your exposure.
For me, the ending of Three Billboards is where it felt least like a true story, and more like narrative artifice, though I think I'm warming up to it. At the end of the day, Three Billboards is overall a tremendous film about loss and pain and anger, and what can happen when the emotions from both sides collide - and maybe even briefly see each others' point of view.
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