Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

On a bit of a whim, Rebecca and I went to Bristol's lovely Watershed cinema to see Martin McDonagh's take on bleak Southern Americana with Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. 

Hands down, best thing here is Frances McDormand, who feels like she was born to play this role. The plot follows her plight for justice, (the eponymous billboards play a central role in that) as she calls out the local police for not conducting a thorough investigation on her daughter's murder. It's a quick and easy set-up that quickly gets your attention and serves as a good excuse to explore the lives of the townsfolk over the coming days.



It some cases though, McDonagh feels a little bit too pleased with his writing, the jokes especially since some of them are begging to be cut out, 'cus on the one hand, the film wants to be a understated drama but on the other wants to be a sharply written character comedy. Sometimes these tonal jigsaw pieces fit together well, but other times they smoosh violently and you just wish they never tried.

Underneath all the gags and swearing however, the film was about developing compassion. There's a remarkable amount of humanity within each of the characters, they are all deeply flawed individuals but in some case, you can see them trying to shed their personalities and hope to become someone better by the stories end. Speaking of endings, it was almost, almost seven minutes too long. It clawed it back just barely but it nearly lost me in it's closing moments. If you were interested in seeing this then go do yourself a favour and go make you own opinion of it, you'll see a pretty good movie while your at it.