Thursday, November 23, 2017

Movie Review: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Aside from having one of the longest titles for a movie I have seen in a long time, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri", is a story about grief and the loss of a child told in one of the most unusual ways I have ever seen. In order to make a movie today, considering just about every idea has been tried or tested, coming up with an idea this unusual is almost mandatory.

Surviving grief because of the loss of a child requires therapy, anti-depressant drugs and massive rationalization. Losing a child, especially one who was raped and murdered is just about impossible for anyone to ever recover from. The divorce rate for people who lose a child is understandably extremely high. Some people turn to drugs to cope with their grief and the constant reminders of what could have been, the opportunity lost, high school graduations, weddings, the birth of the first grandchild. But in this case of the story in this movie, some people get very angry, like the main character, played extremely well by Francis McDormand. Due to her frustration over the police never solving her daughters murder after 7 months, she decides to put put up 3 billboards to humiliate the police chief, played by Woody Harrelson. The billboards ask the police chief why nobody has been arrested for the crime of murdering her daughter after so many months. I thought that the 3 billboard idea in this story is not only very unusual and extreme but very believable when you get to know the main character played by Mcdormand who is tough, strong and takes no disrespect from anybody. There are very good side stories with the police officers in the town of Ebbing that include racial bigotry and the harsh reactions of the towns people towards this grieving mother because of her billboards, even despite her tragic loss that I thought was very well done.

The acting in this movie is outstanding enough to create several Academy Award nominations, starting with Francis Mcdormand with her best role since winning the Academy Award in 1996 for Fargo. I also think that this movie might also receive a nomination for best picture and it is one of the best films of 2017.

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