Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was the favorite for this year's Oscar race for Best Picture. So much so that I put a hold on it at my library, thinking I would get it after the Oscars and be all set to cover 2017. Then on Oscar night, The Shape of Water won.
I debated cancelling the hold. After all, even though I changed the purpose of my blog, I'm still trying to finish Best Picture winners (and I'm finally getting close!). But a coworker told me how fantastic Three Billboards was, so I decided to leave the hold as it was. I'm glad I made that decision.
The film is worth watching just for the acting. Frances McDormand as the mother of the murdered girl is astounding. Her grief cycles between sorrow and anger constantly, and you don't always know what side you'll see or it may even be a mixture of both. To complicate things further, there's a flashback that shows the terrible relationship Mildred (McDormand) and her daughter Pamela (a brief role played by Kerry Condon). Mildred's grief becomes more understandable and terrible when we know the final words the women exchanged (you'll have to watch to know).
I don't want to say much more about the film because that would simply spoil too much of it, and I think a lot of people still need to see it. It's dark, that's for sure, but it's important, too. So much of the film is about women fighting to be heard, to have power. In times like now with #MeToo, this film is needed to show what happens when sexual assault and rape are ignored.
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