"...You
Just Need Love...Listen To Your Heart..."
Just
come from the cinema and like the entire audience - the better half and I were
quietly blown away by the hard-hitting, wildly funny and genuinely heart
breaking - "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri".
I’m
also reminded of "Darkest Hour" in that all the talk is of Gary
Oldman and his amazing central performance – so too here it’s Fargo’s own
Francis McDormand – ragged and boiler-suited and burning with an inner rage at
the unsolved loss of her daughter savagely taken from their family seven years
earlier. But while McDormand gets the juicy lead role and is allowed to scene
steal as her character Mildred Hayes gets to kick local lazy-assed racist cop
butt at every possible turn – like "Darkest Hour" it's the support
cast and their unexpected character arcs that absolutely lift this movie up
into something really special indeed.
If
I was to single out anyone – it’s the local sloppy cops. Both Woody Harrelson
and Sam Rockwell have put in great performances before in a huge array of
Movies/TV - but here they've been given parts as the Chief of Police Willoughby
and his not-so-bright sidekick Officer Dixon that make them glisten – roles
that will have even the most weary of film-buffs renew their admiration for
this mighty pairing of actors. And just when you think you know exactly what
their characters are (a whole community stained and brutalised by a callous
horror they'd rather forget) – they climb out of their personal holes and grow
right in front of your eyes (you could feel the audience enjoying the rich
writing). Clocking up what has to be career bests in the same movie - both
Rockwell and Harrelson must surely be up for statue glory come the 2018 awards
season.
But
perhaps the biggest winner here is the stunning Script and Direction from
Martin McDonagh (the Script especially). McDonagh wrote the brilliant and
acidic "In Bruges" that starred Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell and
also helmed "Seven Psychopaths" where the British Director first
worked with Sam Rockwell - so if you know those excellent movies - you'll know
his penchant for crude and rude spliced and diced with brains and real-life
pathos. "Three Billboards..." offers more of that same freshness and
manages to surprise you too.
Throw
in quality actors and great dialogue for the likes of Peter Dinklage, Abbey
Cornish, Caleb Landry Jones, Zeljko Ivanek, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Amanda Warren
and even a small but sweet part for Ireland's Kerry Condon (the lady jockey in
the TV series "Luck") and a Carter Burwell Soundtrack that adds even
more power at just the right moments whilst not getting in the way of the story
- and you're on a filmic winner.
"Three
Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" is great cinema and frankly I
wouldn't want to spoil anyone's viewing of it by giving away too much
story-tell - because like "Darkest Hour" this movie is intensely
moving and another must see before the statues start flowing in Spring. Well
done to all involved...
