6. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri; movie review

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
Cert 15
115 mins
BBFC advice: Contains very strong language, strong violence, sex references

Wow, wow and thrice wow. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri is stunningly good and worth every single award nomination it receives.
This is where brilliant writing and fabulous acting meld into one supremely original, complex, deeply dark, funny big screen cocktail.
Martin McDonagh, who impressed with In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths, excels here with both his screenplay and his direction. Don't be surprised if he scoops Oscars for both.
As for Frances McDormand, if she doesn't grab a golden statuette to pal up with the one she won for Fargo, there is absolutely no justice.
As we walked away from the Cineworld's Tuesday evening screening I mused with Mrs W on whether Three Billboards had a single flaw.
Twenty minutes later when we arrived home, my cogitation ended. I couldn't think of one.
McDonagh's film could be said to be a pitch dark comedy but it is so much more than that. It underlines its constant surprises with a moral message which only becomes clear in the final analysis.
And yet it seems so cut and dried at the beginning - angry bereaved mother (McDormand) rents three billboards to underline the lassitude of the local police in investigating the rape and murder of her daughter.
Briefly, it appears that the cops are not only clueless but also careless but pretty soon it becomes apparent that their chief (Woody Harrelson) is not quite what he appears.
This sets the tone for the remainder of the movie during which nothing can be taken for granted.
McDormand's quick fire put downs are as unexpected as Harrelson erudition as are the layers beneath the initial impression of almost every character.
Harrelson is excellent as the cop who somehow maintains a soft spot for his drunken and apparently stupid and racist underling, played by Sam Rockwell.
The latter is one of my favourite actors and is at the absolute top of his game here, managing to be loathsome and funny at the same time.
There are also fine contributions from Caleb Landry Jones, as a Hicksville advertising agent, Abbie Cornish, as the chief's wife,  Lucas Hedges, as the dead girl's brother, and Peter Dinklage as an alcoholic with a heart.
Aside of his beautifully drawn characters, McDonagh also creates a totally believable small town atmosphere where everyone knows everyone and where judgements stick, however wrong they may be.
I am desperate to offer more detail on why I feel so passionately about this film but I would definitely not wish to dilute its impact.
Of Seven Psychopaths, I wrote that McDonagh's work was akin to a mix of David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino and the Coen Brothers.
I stand by that here.
Suffice to say, I doubt, after only six movies of 2018, whether I will see a better one this year.

Reasons to watch: combination of magnificent writing and a superb cast
Reasons to avoid: the language is very ripe

Laughs: five
Jumps: none
Vomit: yes
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 10/10

Director's quote - Martin McDonagh: "I wanted to create a strong female lead and I saw something similar to what we see on our billboards about 17 years ago on a bus going through the States and it was horrible and angry - so I put those two ideas together."

The big question - Who really does hire out billboard advertising space?

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