Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing Missouri Review
Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing Missouri, Directed by Martin McDonagh, Stars Frances McDormand as Mildred Hayes, Woody Harrelson as Chief Willoughby, and Sam Rockwell as Jason Dixon featuring supporting roles from John Hawks, Peter Dinklage, Lucas Hedges, and Caleb Landry Jones. Months after Mildred Hayes's daughter is raped and murdered, her case is still unsolved with no suspects. Mildred Hayes then takes the matter into her own hands by buying three billboards saying, "Raped while dying and still no arrests, how come Chief Willoughby. This act then prompts the small town to decent into madness. People begin to pick sides, injure each other, and destroy property. All over billboards and reputation.
The one thing that I really loved about this movie is how easily it was able to switch between moods. The Movie characterizes itself as a crime/drama, but the movie definitely had moments of dark comedy, one of my favorite genres. For example, the police department is trying to think of ways they can emotionally hold hostage her friends and families as leverage to take down the billboards, so they go arrest her friend that she works with in the country store in town over pot. You would expect this to be a really emotional moment but left on the door is a sticky note saying, "Got Arrested :( ", making the scene almost comedic. Another example is when John Hawks character, her ex-husband, attacks her, holding her by the throat prompting Lucas Hedges character to hold a knife to his. John Hawks' character's then-wife walks in asking for the bathroom and wondering out loud if this is a "bad time". This diffuses the violent situation in a comedic way.
The other thing I loved about this movie was the accuracy they had in portraying a small town. In such a small town, everyone knows each other, they're motives, and gossip that spreads around. Being this town portrayed was even smaller than ours, it almost was like an extremely dysfunctional family that was out to protect each other's reputations.
I thought the acting in this movie was phenomenal. Frances McDormand does a terrific job portraying this unhinged, grieving woman who will stop at nothing to get the man who killed her daughter. Though she is also brilliantly able to show the pain she is going through and what she has to do to stop the grieving herself. Woody Harrelson and the rest of the town all give separate reactions to what she does next to try to keep the case in the public eye so it can be solved. I thought the lighting was done extremely well and was able to show the characters at there strongest and weakest. The soundtrack gave the feel of a rust belt town in the midwest but also was used for comedic effects, like playing soothing folk while Sam Rockwell's character beats the crap out of Caleb Landry Jones and throws him out the window. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone with a strong heart and looking for a chaotic small town.
