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THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI | FILM REVIEW
****
Dir: Martin McDonagh
Starring: Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrellson.
15, 1hr 55 mins
Frances McDormand is in superb form as a woman avenging her daughter’s death in this barnstorming neo-western from the skilled wordsmith and director Martin McDonagh. The Irish playwright and director previously brought us the excellent In Bruges with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson and the quizzical and rather less successful Seven Psychopaths, but this is his most assured work to date, laced with humour, violence and ornate, muscular dialogue.
Mildred (McDormand) is a grieving mother, whose daughter was raped and murdered months ago in their small Missouri community. She has heard nothing, no further developments, and the trail has allegedly gone cold. Local copper Willoughby (Woody Harrelson), loved in the community, seems to be doing nothing about it, until Mildred puts up three large billboards on the way into town, using them to deride the local police force. Despite being an apparently good man with a young family who is battling cancer, Harrelson is shamed into action. Mildred seemingly has no empathy, demanding results and building pressure upon him.
A superb Sam Rockwell plays Dixon, Willoughby’s deputy, a seemingly one-note hillbilly idiot but with hidden depths; he’s both laugh-out-loud funny, objectionable and moving. His is one of a trio of great performances: Harrelson and McDormand have never been better either. The plot twists and turns, veering in tone from taut drama to small-town comedy and back again with the steely-but-warm McDormand at its centre, spitting out McDonagh’s picaresque dialogue with aplomb. Every character is a mass of contradictions, shifting in audience perception from scene to scene.
Dixon is brutal, throwing local advertiser Red Welby (Caleb Landry Jones) out of a window one moment, and weeping over his boss’ health the next. Mildred is strong-willed but she’s also dealing with a teenage son and an abusive husband, whilst Willoughby chooses an unexpected way to confront his illness. It’s a testament to the quality of McDonagh’s writing and direction that by the end of the film you feel cheated that you won’t spend more time with these characters, and though the ending will annoy many, it leaves the audience free to draw their own conclusions. The freewheeling structure may also confound some; it surprises and does not conform to accepted norms, which is its strength. You care for the characters and as the stakes rise higher you hope they make the right choices. Strong Oscar-worthy storytelling, well executed by all involved.
words KEIRON SELF
Out now in cinemas.