‘THREE BILLBOARDS’ MOVIE REVIEW:
Cast sparkles in dark, twisty ‘Three Billboards’
FRANCES McDORMAND blazes in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” a darkly comic, chronically compelling story about a grief-racked mother who walks through fire — and lights some — in the name of justice.
Seven months after her daughter’s grisly rape and murder, Mildred (McDormand), rents three rundown billboards to taunt cops who’ve let the case go unsolved and turn cold. Her plan is to bring attention to the crime and it works, but it also backfires.
Sheriff Willoughby (Woody Harrelson, salt-of-the-earth and soulful) is a beloved cop — all the more so since he’s fighting cancer. Officer Dixon (Sam Rockwell, outstanding as a dim racist mama’s boy), his second-incharge, is always on the edge of going berserk — and Mildred pushes him closer.
The roadside signs stir ill will — and not just among the cops. Everyone in town hates Mildred. She remains unbowed about tracking down her daughter’s killer and eventually finds herself with an unexpected ally.
Writer and director Martin McDonagh (“In Bruges”) specializes in colorful characters and stories that ping-pong between pitch black humor and gruesome violence. He’s at the top of his game here, although one wonders how Mildred could ever expect justice in Ebbing. The place is so lawless that a cop can beat a man to a bloody pulp and not end up in jail.
While that nags, what surprises is just how touching the movie can be. Scenes between Willoughby and his wife (Abbie Cornish), as well as Mildred and a deer, toll with sweetness. And leave it to McDonagh to turn a woman’s blood-spattered face (it’s a distant echo of McDonagh’s play “The Lieutenant of Inishmore”) into a moment that is so tender it’s startling.
The movie is filled with topnotch performances, including Lucas Hedges, John Hawkes and Peter Dinklage who, respectively, play Mildred’s son, abusive ex-husband and an uninvited friend. In the end, it’s all about McDormand, who’s great at playing ordinary women in extraordinary circumstances. Mildred is her meatiest and mightiest part since “Fargo” and — you betcha — the Oscar-winning actress sinks her teeth in with gusto and gives another gold-standard star turn.
Early on, Mildred’s face is framed in a car’s rear-view mirror — she’s haunted by the past and what lies behind her. Much later, she’s seen gazing out of a windshield, headed to a future filled with question marks. Between those points, “Three Billboards” offers a wild, twisty and satisfying ride.