FILM REVIEW: Three Billboards Outside Ebbings, Missouri

The superb Three Billboards Outside Ebbings, Missouri is often hard to watch but just as often a good time. It's hard because the subject matter is basically life in all its glass-is-half-empty horror, with enough sadness, anger, pain and violence to fill half a dozen movies. The fun part comes from great performances by every single cast member, the luscious cinematography of the beautiful countryside (North Carolina plays Missouri), and a very enjoyable, eclectic musical score.

The eponymous three billboards are at the center of this small-town tale of a mother's unrelenting grief over the recent death of her teenage daughter. Frances McDormand plays Mildred Hayes, the mother, with her usual intensity and uncanny ability to telegraph every nuance of every emotion she is feeling. (I'm certain I could watch her stare at the camera in silence for two hours and be thoroughly absorbed.) Woody Harrelson plays Willoughby, the town's police chief who is the target of Mildred's ire (and the billboards she rents) for failing to capture her daughter's murderer. He too is mesmerizing in the role, having grown far more complicated as an actor than the goofy, grinning guy he has often portrayed.

The only problem is that the whole thing is so damn depressing from beginning to end! Nobody is happy in this film. Not anybody. That actually might be part of its surprising charm since it leaves you feeling so much better about your own life, which keeps you from feeling suicidal. (Oh yeah, there's also a pretty grim suicide.) Despite that, serious film buffs will want to see this film since it will certainly get a few Oscar nominations, and likely a couple of wins.