Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Poster girl for equality
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
Burning anger at institutional injustice may supercharge this black comic drama to Oscar victory. As a grieving mother launches a blistering one-woman attack on prejudice and indifference, it’s slap-in-the-face shocking, laugh-out-loud funny and move-you-to-tears tragic.
In 1996, Frances Mcdormand won Oscar gold for her role in Fargo, a similarly violent tale of small-town America. She could easily win another for her sharp, brave and confrontational performance here as Mildred, having already picked up a Golden Globe win and other award nominations.
Mildred begins a media campaign to shame the local police into properly investigating the murder of her daughter by hiring three billboards and using them to question the chief of police.
Played by Woody Harrelson, Chief Willoughby is not pleased. Nor is his stupid, lazy and aggressive deputy. Sam Rockwell is beyond tremendous as the younger redneck cop, buckling up his familiar loose style into something tighter and more aggressive.
With the issues of rape and collusion at the heart of the tale, it chimes with the outrage of Hollywood’s sex scandal which has resulted in the #Metoo campaign.
Three Billboards is terrifically entertaining, albeit in a brutal, abrasive and foul-mouthed fashion, with the cast spitting venomous and jaw-dropping dialogue.
Writer and director Martin Mcdonagh previously made 2008’s wildly entertaining In Bruges before following up with a career low of 2012’s Seven Psychopaths. This is his richest and most accomplished work yet, being horrifically bleak but keeping the barest flicker of optimism alive.
A wild trip to the dark heart of gender politics, this is a timely, devastating and magnificent achievement.
Stick those words on a billboard.
Cert 15 Running time 115 minutes