Review of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Topic)

The article will feature a new film by Martin McDonagh "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri ". You will find out why he can become an Oscar nominee and how this film has already impressed viewers and critics.

The Last Rose is blooming lonely, Girlfriends died under the oppression of frost, And you can't see fresh buds around, To be proud of them and sigh with them. Withered Rose Thomas Moore in trans. Vasilyeva

McDonagh's third masterpiece - dramedies

This is how the film, one of the top 2018 Oscar nominees, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, opens. The long title of the new dramedy directed by Martin McDonagh. In this film, he also acted as a screenwriter.

It's a strange thing, you say, dramedies, i.e. drama with elements of black comedy and at the same time some verses about the Rose. There is nothing strange about that, because the film starts with them. Rather from the song "The Last Summer Rose" ("The last rose of summer"). The lyrics were written by Thomas Moore in 1805 to a traditional Irish melody. The last lines of the poem tell about the outcome, the finitude of the path of life. About the fact that without friends and relatives, is it worth a person at all to live "is it so deserted to leave the world, I'm sorry." And here we again turn to the title of the film. Where is this godforsaken Ebbing and does he exist? The author says that in Missouri, but if you look at the map, there is no such area. The name is really fictitious.

If we look at its "ebbing" meaning, everything will fall into place. "Fade away", "wane", that is, three billboards of the heroine Frances McDormand, known to us from the 1996 "Fargo" of the Coen brothers, are located on the "fading" border of Missouri. Where the life of Mildred Hayes, the main character of the film, whose daughter died during the rape, and the perpetrators were never found, also fades away. 7 months have passed since then, and Mildred, who now lives with her son and whom her husband left behind, is not ready to accept this state of affairs. The woman wants to find the culprit in order to punish them.

McDormand vs. Harrelson: Police Drama

To do this, she comes to an advertising agency, rents three billboards for a year, on which she can write what she wants. The unhappy mother addresses the public, asking why the criminals have not been found, and the investigation is not underway.

These scenes begin to unfold the main intrigue of the film: the confrontation between Mildred and Sheriff Bill Willoughby. Or maybe even wider - between her and the police, which Willoughby, the hero of Woody Harrelson, embodies. We remember Woody from the time of the movie "The People Against Larry Flynt", where he brilliantly played the role of a public rebel, for whom there are no authorities. Harrelson succeeds in such roles, perhaps because he considers himself an anarchist.

So in "Three billboards on the border of Ebbing" the image of his hero is ambiguous. The Sheriff reveals to Mildred that he is dying of cancer. So in a peculiar way, he seemed to tell her to slow down, stop blaming the police for everything. But Mildred does not like such explanations and persuasions. She is determined. What has she to lose? The viewer is already anticipating psychological battles between the two characters, but in vain.

Willoughby commits suicide, having previously left notes to those people whom he saw fit. These notes will act as a catalyst for the subsequent action in the film. The reaction of the heroes of the picture to them is also indicative.

From this moment on in the film there is, relatively speaking, a change of scenery. The relationship between Mildred and Officer Dixon, played by Sam Rockwell, comes to the fore. Interestingly, McDonagh began collaborating with both actors, Harrelson and Rockwell, since the days of the black comedy "Seven Psychopaths", released in 2012.

McDonagh's black humor, maybe a farce?

I must say that McDonagh succeeds in black humor, because the first work of the director, "Bringing Down in Bruges" in 2008, was not far from comedy - it is a black tragicomedy. In Three Billboards, the humor is not so straightforward, but Frances McDormand, as always, coped with the task brilliantly. She got used to the role to such an extent that we already forgot that it was Frances who played the police woman in "Fargo". What a focal reincarnation. There she is a representative of the law. Here she confronts the police. Why not? The other side of the same coin.

When you think of Three Billboards, you involuntarily recall the Coen brothers' film No Country for Old Men, which won several Academy Awards. The same theme about the growing crime in the country and the fact that the police are not always good or bad. They are just people, and sometimes it happens that their actions become more effective when the weapon and badge are turned in. They cease to be puppets and begin to manifest themselves as true whole individuals. Dixon's character illustrates this.

In general, the film can be called strange. It smacks of farce. The viewer is just waiting for the director to play a joke with him, as he actually did in the first half of the film, excluding Willoughby from the game. But then the action develops without a catch. Mildred remains true to herself, her tenacity and unchanging sense of humor. She is in many ways reminiscent of mother Courage.

The final scene of the film will puzzle the audience. Dixon and Mildred in the car together? What were you fighting against? Or did you get what you wanted? Life goes on, and the revenge hidden in the heart will be its engine. As long as there is hope and anger, everything seems possible. Any alliance will be considered if only to achieve the goal of finding the criminals.

Critics' Score

The film has received a huge number of accolades from various critics and has already collected several Golden Globe awards. It says a lot. This means that in March of this year he has a lot of chances to excel at the Academy Awards. May also compete for an Oscar in the Best Picture category.

As for Frances McDormand, she has a new Oscar nomination. Let’s wait and see, and the number of Ebbing fans will not decrease, but will most likely increase after the film is released on February 1 .

The Topic of Article: Review of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
Author: Jake Pinkman