BAFTA 2017: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

EveryBestPicture.com revisits the winner of the  BAFTA Award for Best Film

info

imdb

​rottentomatoes.com
92% / 87%

trailer

contains very strong language from the outset

watch

​buy it on Blu-Ray
​buy it on DVD
watch online

 
I had just seen a celebrated movie which despite its undeniable beauty and technical accomplishment left me cold. There was no substance to it, no ambiguity, no call for any real involvement on my part. Then I strolled into “Three Billboards”.

What I found in this film was a nuanced experience, one that offered you a tale that takes place in the aftermath of a killing, just after the dust had settled in this small rural community. The events that unfold are  instigated by, and told from the perspective of, the mother of the victim: you are beside her as she fights to ensure that justice is served on behalf of her daughter.

​When a character's motives are self-evident but it is unclear how far they are willing to go we arrive in places like Ebbing, Missouri, in the presence of Mildred.

The 3 billboards were each nominated for "Best Supporting Props" Oscars, and are here shown in such a way that reveals no spoilers.

An interesting thing happens when an underdog refuses to abide by societal norms for behaviour: it is disarming. It becomes her superpower. In the hands a great actor giving an unfalteringly great performance this unpredictability has a magical effect on both the people of her town and of the audience. Neither is left unchallenged.

Mildred has been let down by the men in her life (played by Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell & John Hawkes) and the town just wants to quietly forget that such barbarity could occur. McDormand delivers Mildred, in her last ditch efforts, with as much humour as intensity and this wholly wins us over. We're behind her, beside her as she ploughs a furrow, but never able to quite keep up enough to see where she might turn next. We root for her far and beyond the point at which we would normally question our devotion, but after what she has been through who can blame us.

"Don't make me go all 'Ripley' on yo' punk-ass" she says with a look

It is hard to resist the temptation to jump to comparisons with Ripley (Sigourney Weaver in Aliens) or Susan Sarandon (Louise in Thelma & Louise), but the truth is that this only tells half the story: they are just two other well written roles for women who feature a rounded character who happens to be realistic portrayal of woman at the end of her tether (and largely driven there by men). All the comparison serves to do is highlight how few and far between these roles are in mainstream American Cinema. Do we honestly think this is a proportional representation of reality or even of our interest in this aspect of reality?

​It must be hard for an actor like Frances McDormand- there is no doubt that she has the ability to rival any other in the trade, but alas, she is a woman. Roles for male leads come along often enough that a man at the top of his game will be able to pick from a host of juicy well financed films, all varied in their demands but handsomely rewarded. He will often have studios writing films with him in mind for the lead.

A woman at the same heights will still have to bide her time, waiting for a project like this to come her way. Since 2008 McDormand has had one other lead role. This is most likely down to being in a position where she can pick and choose her roles now and how much time she wants to devote to acting. She works when there's good enough material to work with. This actor won the Oscar for best actress in 1997 (Fargo) and 2018 (Three Billboards) and has been nominated by the academy 5 times. Why would you NOT write roles for her? She reflects that she is cast as an outsider in both life and art (there's a more in depth take on it in this interview: https://bit.ly/2HhbRF4). My take is that she's right and male writers don't quite know what to do with her (just 14% of writers in the top 500 films were women). And it still took a man to write Three Billboards.

All is not lost, Frances- another role like this will come along in another 20 years.

​I don't think that there is an audience that would not enjoy this picture. It has a taste of everything anyone could ask for. Aside from a taste of the aforementioned Ridley Scott masterpieces it even has a little sprinkling of Death Wish (1974). That's pretty broad. The acting is superb from top to bottom, the world taught and real, the writing exemplary in how to produce for the masses without dumbing or talking down.

​It feels that although little about this film is new, the Writer/Director (Martin McDonagh) has discovered a rich seam in a long tradition of straight talking storytelling. I for one hope that he continues to mine it as thoughtfully and successfully as he has here and that its honesty and power continue to capture audiences as they do in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.