[This is a re-post of ourThree Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missourireview from the Venice Film Festival.
It focuses primarily on two characters where hatred of the other side is the basis of their character.
Hatred of the police and hatred of civilians.
These arent characters as much as they are, ahem, billboards.
The ugly incident happened seven months prior and the local police have made no arrests.
She rents the three titular billboards on a small county road thats mostly patrolled by police.
Image via Fox Searchlight
In succession they read, RAPED WHILE DYING, STILL NO ARRESTS, WHY, SHERIFF WILLOUGHBY?
They go up on Easter Sunday and Officer Dixon (Sam Rockwell) is the first to see them.
The young black man putting up the signs recognizes Dixon from a previous incident and spits at his car.
Image via Fox Searchlight
Sheriff Willoughby is actually a good guy.
He fills the gray area in between the oppositional hatred, as a Sheriff should.
The Sheriff has pancreatic cancer and is likely in his last few months of life.
Image via Fox Searchlight
The two trade a few friendly barbs when Willoughby accidentally coughs blood on Mildreds face.
Mildreds a Greek Chorus of ills, but shes no saint.
She has no empathy for anyone.
Image via Fox Searchlight
He writes a letter to each of them that begins a bridge.
But theyll each be there at the right time to show Mildred and Dixon the errors of their ways.
The lesson inThree Billboardsis agreeable and the cast is stacked.
But everyone, with the exception of the gray area that Harrelsons character occupies, is paper-thin.
It’s an already emotionally brutal movie with even harsher edges and lazy plotting.
And the whole film has a bombastic barnburner energy.
