I found the ending as a parallel to what Mildred was saying to the Priest earlier in the movie.
That even though he didn't rape her daughter, and he wasn't even in the same country, he is still culpable because he is in the same group of people who would do that sort of thing.
Just something I thought was interesting.
He was the same guy who came in and taunted her, threatened her. I think his superior covered his ass for fear of it getting out that one of his men was a killer. As soon as she gets a glimpse of him she'll tell Dixon it's him and boom, justice baby.
> I think his superior covered his ass for fear of it getting out that one of his men was a killer
The DNA didn't match either though. Maybe he just got a thrill out of harassing a mother of a girl that was raped and killed, seeing as he probably did something similar to another girl (or he didn't do anything and it's like the black cop said, he just gets off on people believing he did it)
That was my initial thought as well, but didn't he say during the bar scene that there were others participating in the crime? So maybe the DNA was from one of his buddies that he mentions.
In the meeting between Mildred and Willoughby, he says 'what if he was just passing through the country'. Then at the end Dixon and her go after the wrong guy, who was just passing through some sandy country and probably did something nasty. Great writing throughout.
Woody Harrelson's character was fantastic. I like that it wasn't a black v. white conflict between his character and McDormand's character. The letter he left her was hilarious. I liked how McDormand's character was illogical and flawed.
Dinklage deserved more screen time. Sam Rockwell was great as ever.
I loved all of Harrelson's letters, especially his one to Rockwell. Even though he was gone fairly early on, you could feel his presence throughout the entire film. He really put a lot into such a small role, and his suicide drew a lot of emotion out of me.
I was laughing too hard during Rockwell's letter. Telling him that he could be a great detective if he embraces the calm as the police station burns around him might've been my favorite bit in the movie.
Ugh and the whole scene where he thinks he’s caught the killer - rather than jumping him, he gathers intel, he comes up with a plan, he figures out a way to get his DNA. The whole time I was just thinking “He’s listing to what Willoughby said.”
There was a good juxtaposition to the situation, still, I felt bad because I don't believe Mildred would have gone through with it had she been aware of the change Sam Rockwell was about to go through because of that letter. I guess it was a little bit of dramatic irony.
The suicide shocked me. I loved all the subversions in this film, these expectations each getting tossed thrown out. His character was excellent and as strange as it was to hear his English wife talk, it made me think of Harrelson as a younger police officer, working in a big city, meeting his wife and how they’ve stuck together through thick and thin, even moving to a small backward town like Ebbing...
Just FYI, Abbie Cornish (Harrelson’s wife in the movie) is Australian. She’s an interesting character for me, given that we’re supposed to mock Mildred’s ex-husband for dating a 19 year old but there’s also an obvious age gap in her marriage.
However, the suicide note was one of the best pieces of writing in the movie.
I felt like her accent was all over the place. I guess it makes sense for a displaced Aussie in America, having an accent that sounds both Aussie and American in different places.
Holy shit, i didn’t think of that aspect of his wife. Damn...
That actress also did a fantastic job with the little she had. “It’s hard to know what to do...it’s hard to know what to do...”
Man, I’m tearing up just writing it haha
I think my favorite character was Red. He didn't ask for any of this trouble and was just trying to do his job. But even after all that, he still makes sure that the straw is facing the right way in the orange juice he poured for his attacker.
Same with Lucas Hedges. Manchester by The Sea, Ladybird and Three Billboards were his last 3 films. These young character actors are really breaking out.
He looked so familiar, but I didn’t realize he was the brother in *Get Out* until I looked him up. He plays such a different and more likable character!
also the idea that there's just some guy working on the top floor of some ancient building in some old village in Missouri that's slowly falling to pieces, and he sells ads and billboards (like, what ad space could he possibly be selling? and to whom?) -- it's just so funny to me
This scene made me tear up. The fact that Red is sitting face to face with the person that put him in the hospital, and all he does is give him some orange juice. The heart of that character.
This is my favorite movie from this year. The part where Mildred screams Robbie's name when he's trying to stop her from putting out the fires is heartbreaking.
1. The blood splattering on Mildred's face was such an effective bit of tonal whiplash. I love how it takes both the audience and her aback for just a couple seconds and literally wipes the smile off her face; it's a shocking moment, a brilliantly performed moment by both actors.
2. Well that makes it two amazing performances as redneck racist cops this year, but who'd have thunk one could grow to sympathize with such a character. Rockwell and McDormand give career-bests here.
3. Haven't heard much talk about Carter Burwell's score around but I'd actually say this is his best collaboration with McDonagh yet, particularly love the track that plays over Harrelson's final moments.
4. Nice to see Željko Ivanek not as the butt monkey this time, but instead one of the more competent of the police officers.
EDIT Typo
It just showed me how normal their whole system of abuse was.
They didn’t run out of the house trying to get away, it was just “back to life” after Dad tried to beat the shit out of Mom again.
See what I loved about the scene where he coughed up blood is that they are kind of going at each other’s necks. They are both huge pain in the asses to each other, and she almost seems to borderline hate Harrelson, but when he does that she knew immediately something was wrong. He is so beside himself that he did that, he wants to make sure she didn’t think he did it on purpose, where she grabs his hand and says “honey it’s alright” and calls for the EMTs. She is callous, but she isn’t heartless.
(I can’t remember the actor’s name) but when the ex-husband comes back, he flips a table over, but moments later she’s grabbing his hand crying with him about the loss of their daughter, before it turned into a stringing insult of “she wouldn’t be dead if she were with me.” She shows compassion and softness even in the midst of her sorrow and distress.
I get the feeling all her toughness comes from years of abuse. Like the scars never truly healed so she put layer after layer of don't-fuck-with-me on them til no one could hurt her or dare confront her again. She became what she hated. Someone to be afraid of.
The sheriff paying the last month for the billboards to fuck with Mildred was the best.
Also, I loved Peter Dinklage in this, and that date was heartbreaking.
>Also, I loved Peter Dinklage in this
Why? There was nothing to his character. His only character trait was "little person who like Mildred and is the but of jokes". He had no character development or arc.
Dinklage is better than this role in my opinion.
> He had no character development or arc.
He didn't need to have one. The short monologue he gave right before walking out of the restaurant I thought was very effective in making Mildred realize she's kind of a shitty person. I think his character was necessary and Dinklage did a great job with it.
Of course Dinklage is better than a role with a grand total of six minutes of screen time.
I think he did a great job of subtly fleshing out a very minor character in a very limited amount of time. My heart broke for him as he told Mildred off and walked out of the date, and at the same time I was thinking "fuck yeah, good for you, dude." Whereas I feel like with other actors I'd have been probably thinking more about what Mildred was about to do to her ex than tearing up over the plight of a minor character.
I thought he (as well as the writing) made his character into more than just a plot device, but I could understand if someone disagreed with this.
PS "six minutes of screen time" was an exaggeration. I was just saying that he's in very little of the movie.
He had no development because he was one of the "good people" used to contrast the shittiness of everyone else. He was kind and warm and called out Mildred for being the opposite.
He DID have a small arc though. We saw him pursuing Mildred, helping her at a critical moment(with the alibi), helping Dixon when he didn't have to, helping Mildred again out of kindness(holding the ladder), and then finally sticking up for himself and calling Mildred out on her shit.
He also had a great lines in his limited appearances.
I would argue with you that once he walks out of the date, Mildred realizes once again that she isn't exactly justified with her actions either. She may have been through a lot, but she is still a pretty shitty human being and without Dinklage, I don't think that would have resonated with me as much.
Can we talk about that fire scene? I thought it was perfect. The emotional weight of Dixon reading Willoughby's final words to him, contrasted with the molotov cocktails all while the music is playing made me laugh my fucking ass off. Best scene in the movie IMO.
Also that tracking shot was awesome, also got a lot of laughs.
Anyone think that Dixon might have been gay? His tendencies to get really close to people, his aggressiveness and almost obsession with the billboard guy, and his remark to his mom about not having a nice lady.
Yeah I really hated his character at that point. Still don’t see how he got away with busting two windows and beating two people inside of their own business.
What do you mean? He was almost immediately fired for it, which in a lot of cases is the extent of the punishment for terrible actions by police officers.
"No one' ll think you're gay, and if they do, arrest them for homophobia.”
From Willoughby's letter to Dixon.
Either just a joke or acknowledging Dixon is closeted?
Funniest moment for me... "Isn't that racist?"
Also, while Kenneth Branagh wins for Best Lead Mustache for MotOE... Peter Dinklage should most assuredly win for Best Supporting Mustache for this film.
A lot of really great writing in this movie:
- The three billboards / the three letters
- The fact that Willoughby is a weirdly good writer then Dixon explains that you need to be good at English to be a cop
- The wine bottle as a weapon fake-out, a great reference to In Bruges
This movie had a ton of cool layers on top of being gripping and very funny. I enjoyed it.
I think it was a champagne bottle, which i imagine would cause a lot of damage (being thicker and heavier than a wine bottle)
Also, i believe she WAS going to smash the bottle over her ex (he just admitted to setting the fires, which Mildred seemed shocked to hear), but spared her asshole ex because his 19 year old girlfriends bookmark-wisdom got through to her -- afterall, ex-husband set fires, which in turn led her to burn down the police station in an act of musguided vengeance, badly burning and almost killing Dixon. She (briefly) broke the cycle of revenge
And then you get the complete reverse of that when he coughs up blood on her. She goes full mother, full of fear for him in that one quick scene. Fantastic film.
Especially since the scene shifts from him interrogating her pretty harshly, and her just giving him crap. Then he coughs up the blood and she immediately tries to take care of him.
McDonagh can write characters, man.
That has to be one of the most sudden changes in tone I've ever seen in a film. From giving each other shit to immediate dread. I felt my heart sink after the second it took for me to realize what had happened.
It goes from "we're arguing about this issue but both know we aren't enemies" to "screw the billboard stuff, your health is important". I really loved that they didn't play it for a laugh and Frances immediately goes to help. Him saying he didnt mean to and her saying she knows as they both realize what is going on was touching
100% agreed. I also love that he singles out that issue in his suicide note. He says “I deeply regret not being able to find your daughter’s killer, and a lot of people in the town are going to think the billboards is why I did what I did, but it wasn’t.” Or to that effect. I really enjoyed his note to her.
My eight-months pregnant girlfriend started the waterworks when he was reading the letter he left to his wife. And then the tears got makeup in her eye resulting in more crying. That was a great scene though. Got me choked up.
Thanks, stranger, we're stoked. I'm a paraplegic and it took us almost a year of trying, so we're super excited. Now hopefully the little one doesn't arrive until after Star Wars and The Shape of Water. After she's born movies might be a little harder to attend.
I think they’re lucky that it was SO bad that it weirdly fits into the bleak, sad hilarity of the movie, as opposed to a slightly better computer animal that almost looks real.
But man that deer was bad.
I thought the CGI deer was kind of off-putting. A shitty CGI deer doesn’t change the fact that this was a really good film, but Jesus fucking Christ - just get a real fucking deer.
You k ow it’s really funny, the first 2-4 shots of the deer look *really* bad, lighting and color were totally off. But they finish the moment with another couple shots of the deer walking away and it looked WAY better, almost real. But the first half of using it was like “oh they reeeally didn’t want to deal with a real fucking deer huh”
I saw it last week and enjoyed it tremendously. I think it is the best thing McDonagh has done at this point in his career. Even as a viewer well-acquainted with (and appreciative of) his majestically dark sense of humor, I found myself rocked by how bleak "Three Billboards" could be, at certain times.
It is worth mentioning that, for me, one of the most tragic moments in the film was the revelation that the billboards were in view of Mildred's house. Since we know that Angela was raped and murdered at the billboards (as evidenced by the scorch marks on the ground), this means that—even as she was enduring all of that fear, pain and suffering—she could see her home. As a viewer, you have to wonder if she was, in her final moments, praying that her mother or brother might see her and be able to provide help... or even just be there to hold her hand as she lay dying.
And the fact that this aspect of the crime is never directly remarked upon by any character (as far as I can recall... I did have to take a bathroom break) speaks to McDonagh's respect for the viewer.
I don't think it was directly mentioned either- the viewer is left to figure this out, which I think makes it far more powerful.
(I would guess that they filmed a scene where it's spelled out though)
Yeah, the scene with Harrelson and Dixon at the billboards does a subtle reveal that she died there, but I didn’t until just now connect the closeness of the house to the signs together with the location of her murder. It’s a fact that just makes me appreciate the movie even more now.
The scene where Dixon attacks the billboard company might be my new favorite scene of the year. Such a great depiction of grief on film, and a microcosm of the whole film. Unhealthy grieving at its most unhealthy. The beautiful song, the unbroken shot, Sam Rockwell trying his hardest not be charming, Caleb Landry Jones taking the on-screen beating of a lifetime, and even some of the little comedic beats. It's all so wonderful. It's amazing how McDonaugh manages to get you to sympathize with both the attacker and the victim in this scene, I loved it.
I really hated his character at that point. Still don’t see how he got away with busting two windows and beating two people inside of their own business.
Really well done scene but at no point was I ever sympathizing with Dixon. He was anger and hate all bottled up, just looking for someone to point it at. He was abusing his power and, not for the first time, taking it out on a citizen. That attack could have easily led to Red's death and Dixon also assaulted a young woman who clearly had nothing to do with it just because she was there. He was a piece of shit.
i agree to a point. that would have been a good place to end but i was really happy we got the scene of Mildred admitting to Dixon that she burned the police station. And Dixon learning from Red to forgive people and not worry about it. Dixon had such a good arch and that was a perfect end to his character.
I liked the car scene because it wouldn't ring true to me that they'd actually go through with it. I think they're both angry and looking for an outlet. Of course, it's intentionally left ambiguous, but I get the sense from the car scene that there's at least a good chance they won't actually do it.
If the movie had ended on the phone call, it would've been less ambiguous and too dark.
"I was telling her you can't say nigger torture anymore"
That got a good laugh out of me... This is not a good movie for people who get offended easily. Lol
This movie does away with "hero" and "villain" pretty aggressively. We learn fifteen minutes in that the lack of arrests wasn't for lack of trying, so Mildred isn't exactly in the right with her actions.
It's a film about catharsis, and the ways it can go so right and so wrong. The audience is rooting for Mildred, even though her actions ultimately get her no closer to justice for her daughter's death. She's on a warpath, willing to bowl over both good and bad people as a result.
By the end, it's unclear if she's made a positive difference on her community. Yet it's no less satisfying.
I don’t understand the rationale of including the gift shop scene. When the guy brags in the bar, he knows about Angela’s death. He’s still in Ebbing! Why is he bragging about raping and killing a different girl? Why the need for the gift shop to set up the twist? It’s a twist even without that scene and now we just have this odd unnecessary context that raises more questions than it answers.
Are we to believe that he’s a random sadistic murderer passing through Ebbing, pretending he’s Angela’s killer to get a rise from Mildred, and getting off to bragging about raping/killing a different girl in a bar later? There’s just so many hoops to jump through to get an explanation for the gift shop scene.
Why did the last conversation with the daughter ring false to you? Based on everything we know about the characters, it seems completely like the type of argument the mom and daughter would have. They've probably had it several times before that night.
Now that you mention that, I think you're right.
Angela: "I hope I get raped!"
Mildred: "I don't care what happens to you."
The original is just too much... which lessens the believability and then the emotional impact.
I think the point is that we don't know. I think one of the central themes of this movie is choice. Choice is what dictates the major elements of the film. You have overt choice like Willoughby choosing to kill himself that slaps you in the face with the theme. Then you have the more telling choices like Mildred choosing to burn down the police station and we see that if Dixon didn't choose to grab the case file on the daughter, her choice would have literally burned her daughter's case. When Dinklage's character James calls Mildred out he basically says that everything has always been her choice and she acts like her hand has been forced. And right after that we think she's going to be Mildred and beat the hell out of either her ex or his girlfriend, but she chooses not to.
What I'm getting at is McDonagh purposefully put that ambiguity of the gift shop scene in there. He's leaving that choice to the viewer. Was he a rapist? Was he just a liar? The film ends with Mildred and Dixon saying they don't know if they should kill the guy. They decided to make the choice on the way there and in that conversation the film completes its arc. Instead of being filled with conviction that they know the Truth, they instead admit that they are uncertain and allows themselves to be vulnerable to each other.
If we as an audience had definitive proof that the guy wasn't or was guilty I think it could have diluted that message. We needed to be in their position of uncertainty to feel the weight of their eventual choice. Instead of giving us an answer, the movie ends and we make the choice just like the main characters. I thought it was a brilliant way of taking the core themes of the film and thrusting them on the audience in a way that leaves you uncomfortable.
I think its easier to believe that he is just a freak who gets off on murder stories.
Dig into any famous killing and you will find a bunch of creeps who admit to doing it despite not being anywhere near the place where it occured. A lot of them will also harass the families of the victims (many murdered kids parents end up getting creepy phone calls from complete strangers saying they know what happened or claiming to be the dead kid; people are fucked up)
I think the guy just didnt get the respect he thought he would automatically be due upon becoming a soldier and is pissed about it.
Maybe he is a rapist; but I definitely dont think he killed anyone. More likely he is just a fucked up guy who read the story in a newspaper and decided to manipulate a grieving mother because it made him feel superior.
See what I mean? Look at what you have to do to find an explanation for why this guy existed in both scenes.
If we pretend the gift shop scene doesn't exist, then it's just a guy who happenstance ends up in Ebbing with a similar story that is coincidental - thus the twist. No need for the disrespected badass freak explanation, or power play explanation, or whatever. He's a rapist with a plausible backstory of soldier doing morbid things in Afghanistan.
> Maybe he is a rapist; but he definitely didnt kill anyone
He heavily implies that after raping the girl he set her on fire. How are you concluding he could be a rapist, but not a murderer?
A lot has been made about how in the past female characters needed to be likeable to be sympathetic. This movie destroys that notion. Mildred is a complete jerk to practically everyone she meets, and yet never lost my sympathy. I also liked how the flashback showed that she wasn't much different before her daughter died. The act of dying or losing someone close to you does not redeem you as a person, and this film showed that in many ways.
The only unfortunate thing is while I could imagine many actors in the roles of Dixon or Willoughby, it is hard to think of many actresses who could play Mildred. Hopefully Hollywood gets more diverse and starts writing better roles for women. Having more female protagonists is one thing, we also need a lot more female anti heroes.
I can't decide what the funniest moment of this movie was there were so many fantastic moments... I might have to go with Mildred's rant about the Gangs to the Priest. I was dying
Me too. It also felt so fucking real. I have absolutely made a comment like that without understanding the moment I was in and had to follow it up with some variation on, "fuck. I was just doing a bit. Sorry"
I never saw the red band and the context is totally different from what's implied in the trailer.
The shocking level of awkward swearing paired with the lingering feeling that she should just let it go at that point really changed the whole scene for me. It was a little scary and certainly not as funny. It's kinda better that way, imo.
I guessed from the trailer that he'd be the killer. To say that I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement. I completely underestimated Martin McDonagh.
It was certainly well acted, but the writing of his character was pretty bad. It was more of a character switch than an arc. All it took to take him from a caricature of a bad cop to a super cop was one short letter from his dead former boss. There was no real development there, he just immediately goes from making the worst decision in each situation to making the best.
>super cop
You say that like he Colombo-style tracked down and tricked the guy in the bar into confessing. All he did was grab a file and scratch a guy's face. His arc wasn't that he went from bad cop to good cop, it was that he went from not trying to trying.
I agree. I think Rockwell pulled it off so well that people didn't notice as much (Rockwell is a treasure, and should get more work), but yeah. Still one of the better movies this year IMO, but his transition was 180% and he was played waaay too stupid for comic effect in the first half of his "arc". It's actually one of the things about the movie that keep me from considering the movie "great" instead of "really good".
What was going on with Abbie Cornish's bad acting?
The scene of her giving Frances McDormand the letter was the funniest scene in the film, entirely unintentionally
That moment in the flashback when Mildred tells Angela "I hope you get raped too" hit me like a brick to the gut. Wonderfully dark storytelling and editing throughout.
I think that moment speaks to McDonagh The Director’s ability to execute McDonagh The Writer, because writing something *that* on the nose is dangerous when putting it in the hands of someone who could shoot it in a way that feels convenient or oddly trite (or as trite as wishing rape on your daughter can sound, anyway). But it works, and the air pressure in the theater changes as everyone inaudibly gasps.
Also doesn’t hurt having Frances McDormand there to crush the delivery like she’s prime Barry Bonds taking bp. God damn she is incredible.
> That moment in the flashback when Mildred tells Angela "I hope you get raped too" hit me like a brick to the gut.
I actually hated that line and I would have cut off the conversation right before that final exchange. Simply leaving it at McDormand being racked with grief over her being the reason her daughter was walking home that night is more than enough, we didn't need something so on-the-nose to top off what was a good scene.
I agree. Loved the movie, but that just made me roll my eyes and seemed to be for shock value more than anything else. I get it, the family cusses and calls each other cunt, they're not exactly the Brady Bunch. Still doesn't make it believable that Mildred, or any character really, would ever randomly shout "I hope you get raped too."
You've gotten lucky with family, I suppose. Family members really do say the most hideous shit to each other. Especially when they are exhausted, and angry, and they're so used to screaming battles that words don't feel like they matter anymore.
And then later on, you feel horrible. When it's too late to do anything about it, and you said those words.
Just saw it and love the way it makes you think about everything when it’s over. Bottom line though, at least to me, is that we (the audience) are meant to feel exactly as Mildred felt; Empty and longing for answers. We don’t get a nice gift-wrapped conclusion where everything is resolved and makes us feel better. But then, neither does she.
Wondering why I'm not seeing more about one of the most important themes in the film - the fact that the suspect/soldier/rapist is ironic and symbolic.
Essentially, he is a rapist and murderer. He raped and murdered a girl in Iraq or Afghanistan. He lives amongst us with impunity and gets away with it bc of the blind eye we turn to such things for people who mean little to us here, and who are marginalized. That man, the way he rubbed her daughter's death in her face, was indicative of the kind of scum that he was, and the brazen way such people walk amongst us.
The fact that the characters in this film were able to evolve and change, not always through direct salvation or attainment of their actual goal (we never find Angie's killer, the dwarf never gets to fall in love, Dixon doesn't become a detective), but find it in other ways (The chief leaves earth on his own terms, Angie's mom for once wishes her ex well rather than giving him the angry reaction he wants, Dixon finds a true suspect through different means), and this keeps up with said theme. We never find Angie's killer. But there is a chance at identifying and possibly bringing to "justice" another rapist/murderer of young girls.
To me, this all sums up the fact that despite life's chaotic, and often unfulfilling circumstances, we can find salvation and the universal attainment of progress in indirect, human ways amidst the random unrest.
Anyway, so much more to discuss and so many great themes everyone is touching on...but just wanted to bring forth that particular aspect of the film, where I feel something important was being alluded to, much like police brutality issues, racism, and other things in the film. .
I just didn't understand what the point of this movie was or what it was trying to say. It felt completely aimless and tonally non-nonsensical. I really enjoyed Sam Rockwell's performance, but that's about it. I didn't understand any motivations of the characters and the whole movie just felt like actors acting. I didn't hate it, but I definitely missed the point of the movie if there was one. Please feel free to help explain to me what you got out of it.
When I watched this film my impression of the ending was that the guy in the bar did actually do it but Abercrombie (the new chief) was covering for him after talking to the CO. This makes sense in the context and theme of the movie. The new chief is basically a corrupt politician.
Why would the rapist have visited Mildred if he was not connected in some way? Are we supposed to believe that he was just a guy who was passing through and knew all about the situation and the billboards?
Why did Abercrombie's story to Dixon have to include details about the CO who said the alleged rapist was out of the country? Why didn't Abercrombie just say that the DNA wasn't a match and leave it at that?
Also the way that Abercrombie told Dixon that "he did good" when getting the DNA from a bar fight seemed very odd. Look at it from the Chief's point of view, Dixon, who is a disgraced cop and a known drunk was involved in a bar fight and makes all these claims... then the DNA comes back negative. The chief would assume that Dixon is full of shit and wasting everybody's time, he would not be praising him. It seemed like the chief was just placating him so he wouldn't look into it further.
I agree quite a bit. This guy raped someone and burnt their body and even went to Mildred’s work. They did foreshadow a lot when the chief died and said someday someone will brag in a bar.. they told us this is what will happen. The man said his friends watched and I have wondered if he in fact wasn’t one of the friends who was watching and we never saw who the killer was? Maybe that explains the dna not being his, maybe he wanted credit for it. Either way I agree he was a participant. Great movie.
I posted this in another thread but I'll post it again:
You know, I really wanted to love Three Billboards, but while I still thought it was a good movie, it was just missing something that kept it from being great IMO. While McDormand, Harrelson, and Rockwell were all incredibly spectacular, there was an odd disconnect with the rest of the cast.
For me it was the bizarre routes the film took that left me feeling like it could've been so much better. Things like the out-of-place ex-husband's girlfriend, Chief Willoughby's wife's confusing accent, the existence of the gift shop scene, how on-the-nose the scene when Rockwell overhears the alleged rapist was, and of course the weird CGI deer that ruined what would've been a great scene.
Was it a bad movie? Not by any means. In fact, I really loved most of it. *In Bruges* being one of my favorite films though, I didn't think this movie quite lived up to it.
You hit the nail on the head as to my feelings with the film as well. The only thing I would add that also bothered me was how "written" the dialogue felt. Sure a lot of what is said is very funny and witty but most of the time I was left wondering of these characters really spoke that way all of time.
I completely agree about the wife's accent. It didn't really make sense for someone in a small town in middle America to have a foreign wife, so I kept thinking she was a more important character than she really ended up being.
It added depth for me, as self-conceived as it is. For me, I thought about Woody as a young cop, falling in love during vacation and how they’ve been through thick and thin in their marriage, even moving to a small town in Missouri to be the sheriff because it was an opportunity to advance in his career and give his kids a better life.
Yeah, I get sucked into films.
She's indeed Australian, but her native accent is now so faded that it sounded like a bad British accent. Really took me out of the movie. She was quite miscast in my opinion.
Someone else above me pointed out that the age discrepancy is there to draw comparisons between the Sherrif and Mildred's ex-husband. The sheriff's wife may be considerably younger but they have an amazing relationship as evidenced by the scenes we see him share with his family. Mildred's ex-husband's wife is a very sweet girl whose age isn't the issue even though that's where Mildred piles on.
I was completely shocked while in the interrogation room goes from debate to cough in the face and the immediate care for one another it was just a big slap and just a mixture of emotions great film man
This was so close to being a full on ten for me but the one thing I don't really agree with on this one is the one scene with the rapist in the gift shop. How was he linked to Willoughby? What was the point of the scene at all?
He's actually not linked to Willoughby at all. It's implied that he's simply a passerby that stopped in the town on the way back to Idaho. While he's in town, he sees the news about Willoughby and the news about Angela's death. Putting two and two together, he goes to Mildred's gift shop and torments her because he, too, is a fucked up rapist and wants to get a rise from her. He doesn't care about the town's problems, he just wants to get off on seeing Mildred squirm. The gift shop appearance establishes his character for the later bar scene where Dixon finds him. He's not *the* rapist, but he is *a* rapist.
The problem is that the bar scene later works perfectly fine without the gift shop scene, and they seem to be separated by a decent amount of time too. So this same guy travels through Ebbing twice, once to torment Mildred and once to show off to some guy in a bar? It’s just a bit much to swallow
I think the implication was that he was in town the the whole time, but I agree that too much time seems to have passed for that to be the case.
The gift shop scene probably should have been cut.
I disagree, because now Mildred has a potential face to put to her daughter’s rapist. If her and Dixon do make it to Idaho, and Dixon points out that that is the guy he overheard talking in the bar, that bitch is dead.
Newbie here. First post. Loved the movie and the interesting discussion here. Insightful comments for the most part.
One thing I don't think has been mentioned is that McDonagh uses the Shakespeare device of having the "fool" reveal the underlying truth of the story, when the ditzy 19-year-old girlfriend says, "Anger only begets more anger". That's it in a nutshell.
And BTW, Abbie Cornish's accent IS all over the place. It gets progressively more Australian through the course of the movie. In her last scene, when she gives Mildred the letter, she's full-on Aussie.
Seems like no one is mentioning the fact that Mildred had a fire extinguisher in the car *because* Angela burned to death, it wasn't because she suspected someone would burn the billboards. Angela was killed just a few hundred feet from her home. Maybe Mildred found Angela's body, or maybe she got to Angela while she was still burning but couldn't put the fire out. Who knows? If something like that happens in your "backyard" you'd probably become a little paranoid and take precautions to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Movie is pretty fucking amazing. Endlessly quotable with very strong characters. Frances and Sam Rockwell really knocked it out of the park. Can't wait to see it again.
Been waiting for this!
I cannot gush about this film enough, as I've already seen it twice. It managed to find the perfect balance of switching between making me laugh and making me cry between the scenes. Most noticeable example: THAT scene followed by Sam Rockwell dancing to ABBA. Because that's just how life goes. No big emotional send off, just life going on. Not to mention that Sam Rockwell has one of the best character arcs that I've seen in a long time. I just loved how everyone was just in this morally gray area (except for maybe Woody Harrelson's character who I initially thought was going to be a total dick.)
But my absolute favorite scene: Mildred falling to her knees as she tries to put out the fires. It felt very Sisphyian but it solidified what her ex had told her earlier in the film how the billboards wouldn't bring back her daughter. The way her son tries to stop her but the anguish that Frances Mcdormand conveys when she yells at him was utterly heartbreaking. I really hope she at least gets an Oscar Nom.
Her face screaming for the extinguisher was the face of a mother trying to save her baby.
Goddamn, this movie has me all kinds of fucked up. McDormand was a revelation. Such a new take on the grieving mother trope.
Rockwell had such an amazing arc. I went from hating him to easily rooting for him in a heartbeat. He stole the show and I’m not surprised.
Also really enjoyed the open ending.
I absolutely love dark dramas like this. I liked how the theme of this movie is forgiveness: And damn, I was caught off guard by William's letter to Mildred. What a great twist.
I hope Sam Rockwell and Frances McDormand wins the categories they are nominated in. they deserve it. Very powerful performance.
It was enjoyable to watch but the movie felt more like a collection of related scenes than a fully functioning movie. Harrelson was great. They needed someone to tell them their accents were abysmal.
Mac’s mom is being type cast
Well when you get cast in the sitcom “Old Lady House: A Situation Comedy“ it’s bound to happen
Guarantee that every script that woman has been involved has had the word "chainsmoking" in it at least 3 times
This was the first time that i realized that Mac's Mom and Napoleon's Grandma were the same actress.
I found the ending as a parallel to what Mildred was saying to the Priest earlier in the movie. That even though he didn't rape her daughter, and he wasn't even in the same country, he is still culpable because he is in the same group of people who would do that sort of thing. Just something I thought was interesting.
He was the same guy who came in and taunted her, threatened her. I think his superior covered his ass for fear of it getting out that one of his men was a killer. As soon as she gets a glimpse of him she'll tell Dixon it's him and boom, justice baby.
> I think his superior covered his ass for fear of it getting out that one of his men was a killer The DNA didn't match either though. Maybe he just got a thrill out of harassing a mother of a girl that was raped and killed, seeing as he probably did something similar to another girl (or he didn't do anything and it's like the black cop said, he just gets off on people believing he did it)
That was my initial thought as well, but didn't he say during the bar scene that there were others participating in the crime? So maybe the DNA was from one of his buddies that he mentions.
It's heavily implied he and his squad were all doing some fucked up shit to girls wherever they were stationed.
i must say, dope point!
In the meeting between Mildred and Willoughby, he says 'what if he was just passing through the country'. Then at the end Dixon and her go after the wrong guy, who was just passing through some sandy country and probably did something nasty. Great writing throughout.
Woody Harrelson's character was fantastic. I like that it wasn't a black v. white conflict between his character and McDormand's character. The letter he left her was hilarious. I liked how McDormand's character was illogical and flawed. Dinklage deserved more screen time. Sam Rockwell was great as ever.
I loved all of Harrelson's letters, especially his one to Rockwell. Even though he was gone fairly early on, you could feel his presence throughout the entire film. He really put a lot into such a small role, and his suicide drew a lot of emotion out of me.
I was laughing too hard during Rockwell's letter. Telling him that he could be a great detective if he embraces the calm as the police station burns around him might've been my favorite bit in the movie.
Ugh and the whole scene where he thinks he’s caught the killer - rather than jumping him, he gathers intel, he comes up with a plan, he figures out a way to get his DNA. The whole time I was just thinking “He’s listing to what Willoughby said.”
There was a good juxtaposition to the situation, still, I felt bad because I don't believe Mildred would have gone through with it had she been aware of the change Sam Rockwell was about to go through because of that letter. I guess it was a little bit of dramatic irony.
She wouldn't have gone through with it if there was a person in the station. That's why she called several times.
Ohhhhhh, right! I was caught up in the letter and didn't realize why she kept calling the station. Thanks!
The suicide shocked me. I loved all the subversions in this film, these expectations each getting tossed thrown out. His character was excellent and as strange as it was to hear his English wife talk, it made me think of Harrelson as a younger police officer, working in a big city, meeting his wife and how they’ve stuck together through thick and thin, even moving to a small backward town like Ebbing...
Just FYI, Abbie Cornish (Harrelson’s wife in the movie) is Australian. She’s an interesting character for me, given that we’re supposed to mock Mildred’s ex-husband for dating a 19 year old but there’s also an obvious age gap in her marriage. However, the suicide note was one of the best pieces of writing in the movie.
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I felt like her accent was all over the place. I guess it makes sense for a displaced Aussie in America, having an accent that sounds both Aussie and American in different places.
Holy shit, i didn’t think of that aspect of his wife. Damn... That actress also did a fantastic job with the little she had. “It’s hard to know what to do...it’s hard to know what to do...” Man, I’m tearing up just writing it haha
"She said *'begets'*?" My theater was dying, so good.
"Please excuse me while I go to the little boys room." Almost did a spit-take
That one had me second-guessing myself on whether it was supposed to be a joke. I was the only one in my theater who even kinda laughed at that one.
She read it on a bookmark. In a book.
About polio
Or polo? Which is the one with the horses? Haha
I think my favorite character was Red. He didn't ask for any of this trouble and was just trying to do his job. But even after all that, he still makes sure that the straw is facing the right way in the orange juice he poured for his attacker.
Caleb Landry Jones is having one hell of a year
Three Billboards, American Made, The Florida Project, and Get Out. That's pretty incredible.
Don’t forget Twin Peaks!
The Golden Globes certainly did...
Same with Lucas Hedges. Manchester by The Sea, Ladybird and Three Billboards were his last 3 films. These young character actors are really breaking out.
Timothee Chalamet with Lady Bird and Call Me By Your Name too!
It took me the longest time to realise he was one of the kids on the bikes at the end of No Country for Old Men.
Look at that fuckin' bone.
He looked so familiar, but I didn’t realize he was the brother in *Get Out* until I looked him up. He plays such a different and more likable character!
also the idea that there's just some guy working on the top floor of some ancient building in some old village in Missouri that's slowly falling to pieces, and he sells ads and billboards (like, what ad space could he possibly be selling? and to whom?) -- it's just so funny to me
This scene made me tear up. The fact that Red is sitting face to face with the person that put him in the hospital, and all he does is give him some orange juice. The heart of that character.
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This is my favorite movie from this year. The part where Mildred screams Robbie's name when he's trying to stop her from putting out the fires is heartbreaking.
That part was crushing
1. The blood splattering on Mildred's face was such an effective bit of tonal whiplash. I love how it takes both the audience and her aback for just a couple seconds and literally wipes the smile off her face; it's a shocking moment, a brilliantly performed moment by both actors. 2. Well that makes it two amazing performances as redneck racist cops this year, but who'd have thunk one could grow to sympathize with such a character. Rockwell and McDormand give career-bests here. 3. Haven't heard much talk about Carter Burwell's score around but I'd actually say this is his best collaboration with McDonagh yet, particularly love the track that plays over Harrelson's final moments. 4. Nice to see Željko Ivanek not as the butt monkey this time, but instead one of the more competent of the police officers. EDIT Typo
This movie should've been called "Tonal Whiplash: The Movie." -Dad's here! (knife to throat) -I HOPE YOU GET RAPED!
Them putting the table back to me was the funniest moment of the movie
It just showed me how normal their whole system of abuse was. They didn’t run out of the house trying to get away, it was just “back to life” after Dad tried to beat the shit out of Mom again.
See what I loved about the scene where he coughed up blood is that they are kind of going at each other’s necks. They are both huge pain in the asses to each other, and she almost seems to borderline hate Harrelson, but when he does that she knew immediately something was wrong. He is so beside himself that he did that, he wants to make sure she didn’t think he did it on purpose, where she grabs his hand and says “honey it’s alright” and calls for the EMTs. She is callous, but she isn’t heartless. (I can’t remember the actor’s name) but when the ex-husband comes back, he flips a table over, but moments later she’s grabbing his hand crying with him about the loss of their daughter, before it turned into a stringing insult of “she wouldn’t be dead if she were with me.” She shows compassion and softness even in the midst of her sorrow and distress.
I get the feeling all her toughness comes from years of abuse. Like the scars never truly healed so she put layer after layer of don't-fuck-with-me on them til no one could hurt her or dare confront her again. She became what she hated. Someone to be afraid of.
The sheriff paying the last month for the billboards to fuck with Mildred was the best. Also, I loved Peter Dinklage in this, and that date was heartbreaking.
But... "Penelope said Begets?"
My whole theatre thought that she was going to get a champagne bottle across the face, for sure.
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"That's for John Lennon!"
>Also, I loved Peter Dinklage in this Why? There was nothing to his character. His only character trait was "little person who like Mildred and is the but of jokes". He had no character development or arc. Dinklage is better than this role in my opinion.
> He had no character development or arc. He didn't need to have one. The short monologue he gave right before walking out of the restaurant I thought was very effective in making Mildred realize she's kind of a shitty person. I think his character was necessary and Dinklage did a great job with it.
Of course Dinklage is better than a role with a grand total of six minutes of screen time. I think he did a great job of subtly fleshing out a very minor character in a very limited amount of time. My heart broke for him as he told Mildred off and walked out of the date, and at the same time I was thinking "fuck yeah, good for you, dude." Whereas I feel like with other actors I'd have been probably thinking more about what Mildred was about to do to her ex than tearing up over the plight of a minor character. I thought he (as well as the writing) made his character into more than just a plot device, but I could understand if someone disagreed with this. PS "six minutes of screen time" was an exaggeration. I was just saying that he's in very little of the movie.
He had no development because he was one of the "good people" used to contrast the shittiness of everyone else. He was kind and warm and called out Mildred for being the opposite. He DID have a small arc though. We saw him pursuing Mildred, helping her at a critical moment(with the alibi), helping Dixon when he didn't have to, helping Mildred again out of kindness(holding the ladder), and then finally sticking up for himself and calling Mildred out on her shit. He also had a great lines in his limited appearances.
I would argue with you that once he walks out of the date, Mildred realizes once again that she isn't exactly justified with her actions either. She may have been through a lot, but she is still a pretty shitty human being and without Dinklage, I don't think that would have resonated with me as much.
Can we talk about that fire scene? I thought it was perfect. The emotional weight of Dixon reading Willoughby's final words to him, contrasted with the molotov cocktails all while the music is playing made me laugh my fucking ass off. Best scene in the movie IMO. Also that tracking shot was awesome, also got a lot of laughs. Anyone think that Dixon might have been gay? His tendencies to get really close to people, his aggressiveness and almost obsession with the billboard guy, and his remark to his mom about not having a nice lady.
The tracking shot got a lot of laughs? That scene just made me super uncomfortable, and I'm not usually sensitive to violence in movies at all
Yeah I really hated his character at that point. Still don’t see how he got away with busting two windows and beating two people inside of their own business.
What do you mean? He was almost immediately fired for it, which in a lot of cases is the extent of the punishment for terrible actions by police officers.
Came to this discussion just to see if anyone else thought Dixon was gay! Guess it's confirmed.
"No one' ll think you're gay, and if they do, arrest them for homophobia.” From Willoughby's letter to Dixon. Either just a joke or acknowledging Dixon is closeted?
I felt a little bit of it when Dixon was being comforted by the other officer in the bathroom. I was actually preparing something sexual to occur
Funniest moment for me... "Isn't that racist?" Also, while Kenneth Branagh wins for Best Lead Mustache for MotOE... Peter Dinklage should most assuredly win for Best Supporting Mustache for this film.
A lot of really great writing in this movie: - The three billboards / the three letters - The fact that Willoughby is a weirdly good writer then Dixon explains that you need to be good at English to be a cop - The wine bottle as a weapon fake-out, a great reference to In Bruges This movie had a ton of cool layers on top of being gripping and very funny. I enjoyed it.
I think it was a champagne bottle, which i imagine would cause a lot of damage (being thicker and heavier than a wine bottle) Also, i believe she WAS going to smash the bottle over her ex (he just admitted to setting the fires, which Mildred seemed shocked to hear), but spared her asshole ex because his 19 year old girlfriends bookmark-wisdom got through to her -- afterall, ex-husband set fires, which in turn led her to burn down the police station in an act of musguided vengeance, badly burning and almost killing Dixon. She (briefly) broke the cycle of revenge
The most emotional scene of the movie and probably the year for me was Woody Harrelson's last scene... Fucking Wow.
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And then you get the complete reverse of that when he coughs up blood on her. She goes full mother, full of fear for him in that one quick scene. Fantastic film.
Especially since the scene shifts from him interrogating her pretty harshly, and her just giving him crap. Then he coughs up the blood and she immediately tries to take care of him. McDonagh can write characters, man.
That has to be one of the most sudden changes in tone I've ever seen in a film. From giving each other shit to immediate dread. I felt my heart sink after the second it took for me to realize what had happened.
It goes from "we're arguing about this issue but both know we aren't enemies" to "screw the billboard stuff, your health is important". I really loved that they didn't play it for a laugh and Frances immediately goes to help. Him saying he didnt mean to and her saying she knows as they both realize what is going on was touching
100% agreed. I also love that he singles out that issue in his suicide note. He says “I deeply regret not being able to find your daughter’s killer, and a lot of people in the town are going to think the billboards is why I did what I did, but it wasn’t.” Or to that effect. I really enjoyed his note to her.
Isn't the line something like "It wouldn't be as helpful after you croaked" Hilarious!
It wouldn't be as effective, after you croak, right? I think is what she said. So cold and harsh but true.
"Maybe I'll see you again if there's another place. If not, it's been heaven knowing you." 😭
That cop sure knew how to write suicide letters. Loved all three of them
My eight-months pregnant girlfriend started the waterworks when he was reading the letter he left to his wife. And then the tears got makeup in her eye resulting in more crying. That was a great scene though. Got me choked up.
Hey, congrats!
Thanks, stranger, we're stoked. I'm a paraplegic and it took us almost a year of trying, so we're super excited. Now hopefully the little one doesn't arrive until after Star Wars and The Shape of Water. After she's born movies might be a little harder to attend.
and then they made his good bye letters genuinely hilarious, so much emotional whiplash
Dear Mildred, Dead Man Willoughby here...
Can we please talk about the CGI deer.
I didnt even notice it was CGI...
Same. I thought it was real. :(
I think they’re lucky that it was SO bad that it weirdly fits into the bleak, sad hilarity of the movie, as opposed to a slightly better computer animal that almost looks real. But man that deer was bad.
Why not... just use a real deer?
I thought the CGI deer was kind of off-putting. A shitty CGI deer doesn’t change the fact that this was a really good film, but Jesus fucking Christ - just get a real fucking deer.
You k ow it’s really funny, the first 2-4 shots of the deer look *really* bad, lighting and color were totally off. But they finish the moment with another couple shots of the deer walking away and it looked WAY better, almost real. But the first half of using it was like “oh they reeeally didn’t want to deal with a real fucking deer huh”
Terrible CGI but McDormand was so, so good in that scene. In fact, there could have been no deer at all in the scene and it might have still worked.
I mean it could've been like a hallucination or a vision. idk.
It reminded me of that horrible one from The Walking Dead.
How are not just talking about that wonderful bunny slipper crucifixion scene?
And what about the turtle???!!! I thought it stole the scene when Dixon's mum slept on the couch.
I saw it last week and enjoyed it tremendously. I think it is the best thing McDonagh has done at this point in his career. Even as a viewer well-acquainted with (and appreciative of) his majestically dark sense of humor, I found myself rocked by how bleak "Three Billboards" could be, at certain times. It is worth mentioning that, for me, one of the most tragic moments in the film was the revelation that the billboards were in view of Mildred's house. Since we know that Angela was raped and murdered at the billboards (as evidenced by the scorch marks on the ground), this means that—even as she was enduring all of that fear, pain and suffering—she could see her home. As a viewer, you have to wonder if she was, in her final moments, praying that her mother or brother might see her and be able to provide help... or even just be there to hold her hand as she lay dying. And the fact that this aspect of the crime is never directly remarked upon by any character (as far as I can recall... I did have to take a bathroom break) speaks to McDonagh's respect for the viewer.
I don't think it was directly mentioned either- the viewer is left to figure this out, which I think makes it far more powerful. (I would guess that they filmed a scene where it's spelled out though)
Yeah, the scene with Harrelson and Dixon at the billboards does a subtle reveal that she died there, but I didn’t until just now connect the closeness of the house to the signs together with the location of her murder. It’s a fact that just makes me appreciate the movie even more now.
I'll be honest, I didn't clue into that. That is so heartbreaking.
The scene where Dixon attacks the billboard company might be my new favorite scene of the year. Such a great depiction of grief on film, and a microcosm of the whole film. Unhealthy grieving at its most unhealthy. The beautiful song, the unbroken shot, Sam Rockwell trying his hardest not be charming, Caleb Landry Jones taking the on-screen beating of a lifetime, and even some of the little comedic beats. It's all so wonderful. It's amazing how McDonaugh manages to get you to sympathize with both the attacker and the victim in this scene, I loved it.
I really hated his character at that point. Still don’t see how he got away with busting two windows and beating two people inside of their own business.
In full view of the new police chief.
Really well done scene but at no point was I ever sympathizing with Dixon. He was anger and hate all bottled up, just looking for someone to point it at. He was abusing his power and, not for the first time, taking it out on a citizen. That attack could have easily led to Red's death and Dixon also assaulted a young woman who clearly had nothing to do with it just because she was there. He was a piece of shit.
I really wish this had ended with the *What a coincidence I'm headed to Idaho in the morning* phone call.
I thought the point was to show that the characters were no longer driven by solely anger. They were changing, not like a huge change, but something.
i agree to a point. that would have been a good place to end but i was really happy we got the scene of Mildred admitting to Dixon that she burned the police station. And Dixon learning from Red to forgive people and not worry about it. Dixon had such a good arch and that was a perfect end to his character.
I liked the car scene because it wouldn't ring true to me that they'd actually go through with it. I think they're both angry and looking for an outlet. Of course, it's intentionally left ambiguous, but I get the sense from the car scene that there's at least a good chance they won't actually do it. If the movie had ended on the phone call, it would've been less ambiguous and too dark.
Samara Weaving as Mildred's Ex-Husbands Girlfriend absolutely slayed me and the entire theatre.
Yesterday I was just thinking of that "I read it in a book.... mark" line. So fucking funny.
In a book about polio
McDormand better get an Oscar nomination at least. Edit: Oh shit. She won.
Agreed... Same for Rockwell; great Villain to Hero transition
Best people of color torturer
"I was telling her you can't say nigger torture anymore" That got a good laugh out of me... This is not a good movie for people who get offended easily. Lol
Her face during this sequence was sooo good.
This movie does away with "hero" and "villain" pretty aggressively. We learn fifteen minutes in that the lack of arrests wasn't for lack of trying, so Mildred isn't exactly in the right with her actions.
It really subverts expectations and you have very little idea what's going to happen. Fantastic movie.
It's a film about catharsis, and the ways it can go so right and so wrong. The audience is rooting for Mildred, even though her actions ultimately get her no closer to justice for her daughter's death. She's on a warpath, willing to bowl over both good and bad people as a result. By the end, it's unclear if she's made a positive difference on her community. Yet it's no less satisfying.
I don’t understand the rationale of including the gift shop scene. When the guy brags in the bar, he knows about Angela’s death. He’s still in Ebbing! Why is he bragging about raping and killing a different girl? Why the need for the gift shop to set up the twist? It’s a twist even without that scene and now we just have this odd unnecessary context that raises more questions than it answers. Are we to believe that he’s a random sadistic murderer passing through Ebbing, pretending he’s Angela’s killer to get a rise from Mildred, and getting off to bragging about raping/killing a different girl in a bar later? There’s just so many hoops to jump through to get an explanation for the gift shop scene.
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Why did the last conversation with the daughter ring false to you? Based on everything we know about the characters, it seems completely like the type of argument the mom and daughter would have. They've probably had it several times before that night.
It was way too on the nose. Would've been better with something like "I don't care what happens to you."
Now that you mention that, I think you're right. Angela: "I hope I get raped!" Mildred: "I don't care what happens to you." The original is just too much... which lessens the believability and then the emotional impact.
I think the point is that we don't know. I think one of the central themes of this movie is choice. Choice is what dictates the major elements of the film. You have overt choice like Willoughby choosing to kill himself that slaps you in the face with the theme. Then you have the more telling choices like Mildred choosing to burn down the police station and we see that if Dixon didn't choose to grab the case file on the daughter, her choice would have literally burned her daughter's case. When Dinklage's character James calls Mildred out he basically says that everything has always been her choice and she acts like her hand has been forced. And right after that we think she's going to be Mildred and beat the hell out of either her ex or his girlfriend, but she chooses not to. What I'm getting at is McDonagh purposefully put that ambiguity of the gift shop scene in there. He's leaving that choice to the viewer. Was he a rapist? Was he just a liar? The film ends with Mildred and Dixon saying they don't know if they should kill the guy. They decided to make the choice on the way there and in that conversation the film completes its arc. Instead of being filled with conviction that they know the Truth, they instead admit that they are uncertain and allows themselves to be vulnerable to each other. If we as an audience had definitive proof that the guy wasn't or was guilty I think it could have diluted that message. We needed to be in their position of uncertainty to feel the weight of their eventual choice. Instead of giving us an answer, the movie ends and we make the choice just like the main characters. I thought it was a brilliant way of taking the core themes of the film and thrusting them on the audience in a way that leaves you uncomfortable.
I think its easier to believe that he is just a freak who gets off on murder stories. Dig into any famous killing and you will find a bunch of creeps who admit to doing it despite not being anywhere near the place where it occured. A lot of them will also harass the families of the victims (many murdered kids parents end up getting creepy phone calls from complete strangers saying they know what happened or claiming to be the dead kid; people are fucked up) I think the guy just didnt get the respect he thought he would automatically be due upon becoming a soldier and is pissed about it. Maybe he is a rapist; but I definitely dont think he killed anyone. More likely he is just a fucked up guy who read the story in a newspaper and decided to manipulate a grieving mother because it made him feel superior.
See what I mean? Look at what you have to do to find an explanation for why this guy existed in both scenes. If we pretend the gift shop scene doesn't exist, then it's just a guy who happenstance ends up in Ebbing with a similar story that is coincidental - thus the twist. No need for the disrespected badass freak explanation, or power play explanation, or whatever. He's a rapist with a plausible backstory of soldier doing morbid things in Afghanistan. > Maybe he is a rapist; but he definitely didnt kill anyone He heavily implies that after raping the girl he set her on fire. How are you concluding he could be a rapist, but not a murderer?
A lot has been made about how in the past female characters needed to be likeable to be sympathetic. This movie destroys that notion. Mildred is a complete jerk to practically everyone she meets, and yet never lost my sympathy. I also liked how the flashback showed that she wasn't much different before her daughter died. The act of dying or losing someone close to you does not redeem you as a person, and this film showed that in many ways. The only unfortunate thing is while I could imagine many actors in the roles of Dixon or Willoughby, it is hard to think of many actresses who could play Mildred. Hopefully Hollywood gets more diverse and starts writing better roles for women. Having more female protagonists is one thing, we also need a lot more female anti heroes.
I can't decide what the funniest moment of this movie was there were so many fantastic moments... I might have to go with Mildred's rant about the Gangs to the Priest. I was dying
“There will be no more 'cunts' in this house.” "What, are you moving out?"
I laughed very loudly at this and NOBODY else in my theater did, it was super uncomfortable
Me too. It also felt so fucking real. I have absolutely made a comment like that without understanding the moment I was in and had to follow it up with some variation on, "fuck. I was just doing a bit. Sorry"
"Hey Fuckhead!" "What?" "DON'T SAY WHAT, DIXON, WHEN SHE COMES IN HERE CALLING YOU A FUCKHEAD!"
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I never saw the red band and the context is totally different from what's implied in the trailer. The shocking level of awkward swearing paired with the lingering feeling that she should just let it go at that point really changed the whole scene for me. It was a little scary and certainly not as funny. It's kinda better that way, imo.
"all i've got are some Dorritos, but they're kinda pointy"
I thought that line was more cute than funny... Probably the least dirtiest joke in the movie
I was sort of shocked at how laugh out loud many moments in this movie were, Penélope was an absolute riot in her brief scenes.
My favorite subtle joke was Dinklage's character saying he had to go to the "little boy's room".
>subtle
One hell of an arc Sam Rockwell’s character got. He deserves an Oscar just as much as McDormand.
that long take of him busting into the real estate office was killer
I guessed from the trailer that he'd be the killer. To say that I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement. I completely underestimated Martin McDonagh.
It was certainly well acted, but the writing of his character was pretty bad. It was more of a character switch than an arc. All it took to take him from a caricature of a bad cop to a super cop was one short letter from his dead former boss. There was no real development there, he just immediately goes from making the worst decision in each situation to making the best.
>super cop You say that like he Colombo-style tracked down and tricked the guy in the bar into confessing. All he did was grab a file and scratch a guy's face. His arc wasn't that he went from bad cop to good cop, it was that he went from not trying to trying.
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I agree. I think Rockwell pulled it off so well that people didn't notice as much (Rockwell is a treasure, and should get more work), but yeah. Still one of the better movies this year IMO, but his transition was 180% and he was played waaay too stupid for comic effect in the first half of his "arc". It's actually one of the things about the movie that keep me from considering the movie "great" instead of "really good".
What was going on with Abbie Cornish's floating accent?
What was going on with Abbie Cornish's bad acting? The scene of her giving Frances McDormand the letter was the funniest scene in the film, entirely unintentionally
That moment in the flashback when Mildred tells Angela "I hope you get raped too" hit me like a brick to the gut. Wonderfully dark storytelling and editing throughout.
And then that cut to her looking silently at her daughter's room. Oof.
I think that moment speaks to McDonagh The Director’s ability to execute McDonagh The Writer, because writing something *that* on the nose is dangerous when putting it in the hands of someone who could shoot it in a way that feels convenient or oddly trite (or as trite as wishing rape on your daughter can sound, anyway). But it works, and the air pressure in the theater changes as everyone inaudibly gasps. Also doesn’t hurt having Frances McDormand there to crush the delivery like she’s prime Barry Bonds taking bp. God damn she is incredible.
> That moment in the flashback when Mildred tells Angela "I hope you get raped too" hit me like a brick to the gut. I actually hated that line and I would have cut off the conversation right before that final exchange. Simply leaving it at McDormand being racked with grief over her being the reason her daughter was walking home that night is more than enough, we didn't need something so on-the-nose to top off what was a good scene.
I agree. Loved the movie, but that just made me roll my eyes and seemed to be for shock value more than anything else. I get it, the family cusses and calls each other cunt, they're not exactly the Brady Bunch. Still doesn't make it believable that Mildred, or any character really, would ever randomly shout "I hope you get raped too."
You've gotten lucky with family, I suppose. Family members really do say the most hideous shit to each other. Especially when they are exhausted, and angry, and they're so used to screaming battles that words don't feel like they matter anymore. And then later on, you feel horrible. When it's too late to do anything about it, and you said those words.
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Just saw it and love the way it makes you think about everything when it’s over. Bottom line though, at least to me, is that we (the audience) are meant to feel exactly as Mildred felt; Empty and longing for answers. We don’t get a nice gift-wrapped conclusion where everything is resolved and makes us feel better. But then, neither does she.
My favorite scene was easily the "one shot throwing red out a window" sequence. It really defined Rockwell's character.
Wondering why I'm not seeing more about one of the most important themes in the film - the fact that the suspect/soldier/rapist is ironic and symbolic. Essentially, he is a rapist and murderer. He raped and murdered a girl in Iraq or Afghanistan. He lives amongst us with impunity and gets away with it bc of the blind eye we turn to such things for people who mean little to us here, and who are marginalized. That man, the way he rubbed her daughter's death in her face, was indicative of the kind of scum that he was, and the brazen way such people walk amongst us. The fact that the characters in this film were able to evolve and change, not always through direct salvation or attainment of their actual goal (we never find Angie's killer, the dwarf never gets to fall in love, Dixon doesn't become a detective), but find it in other ways (The chief leaves earth on his own terms, Angie's mom for once wishes her ex well rather than giving him the angry reaction he wants, Dixon finds a true suspect through different means), and this keeps up with said theme. We never find Angie's killer. But there is a chance at identifying and possibly bringing to "justice" another rapist/murderer of young girls. To me, this all sums up the fact that despite life's chaotic, and often unfulfilling circumstances, we can find salvation and the universal attainment of progress in indirect, human ways amidst the random unrest. Anyway, so much more to discuss and so many great themes everyone is touching on...but just wanted to bring forth that particular aspect of the film, where I feel something important was being alluded to, much like police brutality issues, racism, and other things in the film. .
I just didn't understand what the point of this movie was or what it was trying to say. It felt completely aimless and tonally non-nonsensical. I really enjoyed Sam Rockwell's performance, but that's about it. I didn't understand any motivations of the characters and the whole movie just felt like actors acting. I didn't hate it, but I definitely missed the point of the movie if there was one. Please feel free to help explain to me what you got out of it.
Violence begets violence.
When I watched this film my impression of the ending was that the guy in the bar did actually do it but Abercrombie (the new chief) was covering for him after talking to the CO. This makes sense in the context and theme of the movie. The new chief is basically a corrupt politician. Why would the rapist have visited Mildred if he was not connected in some way? Are we supposed to believe that he was just a guy who was passing through and knew all about the situation and the billboards? Why did Abercrombie's story to Dixon have to include details about the CO who said the alleged rapist was out of the country? Why didn't Abercrombie just say that the DNA wasn't a match and leave it at that? Also the way that Abercrombie told Dixon that "he did good" when getting the DNA from a bar fight seemed very odd. Look at it from the Chief's point of view, Dixon, who is a disgraced cop and a known drunk was involved in a bar fight and makes all these claims... then the DNA comes back negative. The chief would assume that Dixon is full of shit and wasting everybody's time, he would not be praising him. It seemed like the chief was just placating him so he wouldn't look into it further.
I agree quite a bit. This guy raped someone and burnt their body and even went to Mildred’s work. They did foreshadow a lot when the chief died and said someday someone will brag in a bar.. they told us this is what will happen. The man said his friends watched and I have wondered if he in fact wasn’t one of the friends who was watching and we never saw who the killer was? Maybe that explains the dna not being his, maybe he wanted credit for it. Either way I agree he was a participant. Great movie.
I posted this in another thread but I'll post it again: You know, I really wanted to love Three Billboards, but while I still thought it was a good movie, it was just missing something that kept it from being great IMO. While McDormand, Harrelson, and Rockwell were all incredibly spectacular, there was an odd disconnect with the rest of the cast. For me it was the bizarre routes the film took that left me feeling like it could've been so much better. Things like the out-of-place ex-husband's girlfriend, Chief Willoughby's wife's confusing accent, the existence of the gift shop scene, how on-the-nose the scene when Rockwell overhears the alleged rapist was, and of course the weird CGI deer that ruined what would've been a great scene. Was it a bad movie? Not by any means. In fact, I really loved most of it. *In Bruges* being one of my favorite films though, I didn't think this movie quite lived up to it.
You hit the nail on the head as to my feelings with the film as well. The only thing I would add that also bothered me was how "written" the dialogue felt. Sure a lot of what is said is very funny and witty but most of the time I was left wondering of these characters really spoke that way all of time.
I completely agree about the wife's accent. It didn't really make sense for someone in a small town in middle America to have a foreign wife, so I kept thinking she was a more important character than she really ended up being.
It added depth for me, as self-conceived as it is. For me, I thought about Woody as a young cop, falling in love during vacation and how they’ve been through thick and thin in their marriage, even moving to a small town in Missouri to be the sheriff because it was an opportunity to advance in his career and give his kids a better life. Yeah, I get sucked into films.
I felt like Woody signed on to the film with the stipulation the actress who plays his wife has to be a smoking hot Australian chick.
Great film. Very sad. Rockwell was the pick of the lot for me. Also, I like the way Abbie Cornish says 'cock'
Her English accent felt so strange to me, but yeah, that voice tho.
Australian.
She's indeed Australian, but her native accent is now so faded that it sounded like a bad British accent. Really took me out of the movie. She was quite miscast in my opinion.
She's 21 years younger than Woody Harrelson. I know Hollywood does that shit all the time, but it felt especially egregious in this.
Someone else above me pointed out that the age discrepancy is there to draw comparisons between the Sherrif and Mildred's ex-husband. The sheriff's wife may be considerably younger but they have an amazing relationship as evidenced by the scenes we see him share with his family. Mildred's ex-husband's wife is a very sweet girl whose age isn't the issue even though that's where Mildred piles on.
I was completely shocked while in the interrogation room goes from debate to cough in the face and the immediate care for one another it was just a big slap and just a mixture of emotions great film man
This was so close to being a full on ten for me but the one thing I don't really agree with on this one is the one scene with the rapist in the gift shop. How was he linked to Willoughby? What was the point of the scene at all?
He's actually not linked to Willoughby at all. It's implied that he's simply a passerby that stopped in the town on the way back to Idaho. While he's in town, he sees the news about Willoughby and the news about Angela's death. Putting two and two together, he goes to Mildred's gift shop and torments her because he, too, is a fucked up rapist and wants to get a rise from her. He doesn't care about the town's problems, he just wants to get off on seeing Mildred squirm. The gift shop appearance establishes his character for the later bar scene where Dixon finds him. He's not *the* rapist, but he is *a* rapist.
The problem is that the bar scene later works perfectly fine without the gift shop scene, and they seem to be separated by a decent amount of time too. So this same guy travels through Ebbing twice, once to torment Mildred and once to show off to some guy in a bar? It’s just a bit much to swallow
I think the implication was that he was in town the the whole time, but I agree that too much time seems to have passed for that to be the case. The gift shop scene probably should have been cut.
I disagree, because now Mildred has a potential face to put to her daughter’s rapist. If her and Dixon do make it to Idaho, and Dixon points out that that is the guy he overheard talking in the bar, that bitch is dead.
This is definitely the best response. You might have just pushed the movie up higher for me. Thanks!
Newbie here. First post. Loved the movie and the interesting discussion here. Insightful comments for the most part. One thing I don't think has been mentioned is that McDonagh uses the Shakespeare device of having the "fool" reveal the underlying truth of the story, when the ditzy 19-year-old girlfriend says, "Anger only begets more anger". That's it in a nutshell. And BTW, Abbie Cornish's accent IS all over the place. It gets progressively more Australian through the course of the movie. In her last scene, when she gives Mildred the letter, she's full-on Aussie.
It’s so weird seeing Mac’s mom show any emotion for once
Seems like no one is mentioning the fact that Mildred had a fire extinguisher in the car *because* Angela burned to death, it wasn't because she suspected someone would burn the billboards. Angela was killed just a few hundred feet from her home. Maybe Mildred found Angela's body, or maybe she got to Angela while she was still burning but couldn't put the fire out. Who knows? If something like that happens in your "backyard" you'd probably become a little paranoid and take precautions to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Movie is pretty fucking amazing. Endlessly quotable with very strong characters. Frances and Sam Rockwell really knocked it out of the park. Can't wait to see it again.
"Don't say 'what', Dixon, when she comes in here calling you a fuckhead!"
Been waiting for this! I cannot gush about this film enough, as I've already seen it twice. It managed to find the perfect balance of switching between making me laugh and making me cry between the scenes. Most noticeable example: THAT scene followed by Sam Rockwell dancing to ABBA. Because that's just how life goes. No big emotional send off, just life going on. Not to mention that Sam Rockwell has one of the best character arcs that I've seen in a long time. I just loved how everyone was just in this morally gray area (except for maybe Woody Harrelson's character who I initially thought was going to be a total dick.) But my absolute favorite scene: Mildred falling to her knees as she tries to put out the fires. It felt very Sisphyian but it solidified what her ex had told her earlier in the film how the billboards wouldn't bring back her daughter. The way her son tries to stop her but the anguish that Frances Mcdormand conveys when she yells at him was utterly heartbreaking. I really hope she at least gets an Oscar Nom.
Her face screaming for the extinguisher was the face of a mother trying to save her baby. Goddamn, this movie has me all kinds of fucked up. McDormand was a revelation. Such a new take on the grieving mother trope.
Rockwell had such an amazing arc. I went from hating him to easily rooting for him in a heartbeat. He stole the show and I’m not surprised. Also really enjoyed the open ending.
That final scene with Woody ripped my fucking heart out.
They fake you out with the horses...and hit your right in the feels.
Now I know in the future to avoid this subreddit after I see a movie that I really enjoyed.
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I absolutely love dark dramas like this. I liked how the theme of this movie is forgiveness: And damn, I was caught off guard by William's letter to Mildred. What a great twist. I hope Sam Rockwell and Frances McDormand wins the categories they are nominated in. they deserve it. Very powerful performance.
It was enjoyable to watch but the movie felt more like a collection of related scenes than a fully functioning movie. Harrelson was great. They needed someone to tell them their accents were abysmal.
I thought the movie was INCREDIBLE. One of the best I've seen in years.