Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri –
what a title , what a film. I saw it. I don’t think I need to see it again.
It’s up for a lot of Oscar buzz and is very worthy. It’s a challenging film.
Can’t call it entertaining. It makes you think. It makes you sweat a bit. It
can make you laugh – but it’s that uncomfortable laugh – like, this is sorta PC
wrong, but it’s funny, but it’s wrong, and am I cleared to laugh?
So, Frances McDormand (beyond Oscar worthy, she is SO good
in this film – just hand her the statue now) is mourning her daughter who was
killed and died while being burned. Ugly. So horrific. And she’s pissed – the
local cops haven’t solved a thing. The chief (an excellent Woody Harrelson) has
tried, but there have been no clues. The local worker bee cop (Sam
Rockwell – very Oscar worthy) is a racist pig with a lot of issues and does not
seem interested in a solution. Meanwhile, she puts up three billboards
that challenge the police force.
Bam. It’s front and center. Many issues are faced in
this film. Racism. Police work. Murder. And more. Seems like the whole
town is seething, and McDormand is front and center. Her very being vibrates.
She is such a good actress and she can show fury, combustion, and more just
with a clenched jaw, a raised eyebrow, and a cutting remark.
This film can get ugly. The language is brutal. The actions
are ugly. These aren’t really pleasant people. But it’s truly an interesting
story, a sad heartbreaking at times story, and everyone in it grows in some way
or another.
It’s an Oscar must see film that is tough....that’s where
I’ll leave it. Wow and whoa and dang.
