Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

McDonagh (how happy would I be to be able to write this at last) also brings his original mixture of satire, blackis black incorrect humor and ancient tragedy into movie theaters... And incredibly well-written ambivalent characters and dialogs that can hit the nail on the head to such extent that it gives you the shivers but even though you will be rolling on floor laughing. So it works for him as a real, incorrect comedy, in which things that are not supposed to be said out loud are said out loud, as well as the non-violent but apt satire of Western society, the tragedy of one (more) loss or neowestern. So far, he had kept it just for theater stagings. However, he did a disservice; Although it is his best movie (especially the first half is brilliant in terms of screenwriting ), but in comparison with the Pillowman or the Lonesome West, it is still a much worse. Especially because of the final third, when it unexpectedly runs out of breath, it doesn't progress much and all the characters except the duo Mildred / Dixon are a bit forgotten. And that´s kind of reprehensible. Even so, the first and last one is saved by the great cast and the fact that, as a director, he knows exactly when to use the striking message and when, on the contrary, to let the silence do the job through guilty look. (01/17/2018)

As soon as I’ve seen this film I remembered Fargo from the nineties. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri are pretty similar, especially in the quality of acting performances and the American small-town atmosphere. Ebbing is a typical American hole, but a wide range of interesting characters lives there. And these characters are so well written that you are bating your breath and just desperately wonder what is going to happen to them in the following minutes. Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell have roles so powerful that it almost left me speechless. The screenwriter and director in one person, Martin McDonagh, played with their characters so much that you encounter several shocking moments which impact the course of the whole film. There is even one scene with Sam Rockwell in the lead, which immediately placed among the best scenes I’ve seen in the recent years. Overall, I have to admit, that although there is some absurdity in the story, it is still one of the best American crime films I’ve seen in the recent years. While watching it I was reminded of the older American crime movies that I love and at the same time I was assured that the American cinematography can still amaze. (01/20/2018)

The raw story of a woman who wanted to achieve justice despite the many sticks that people threw under her feet is a showcase of breathtaking performances (the Oscars are well deserved in this case) and a strong theme that won't leave any viewer cold. The film succeeds in convincingly evoking the atmosphere of a gritty small town where it is perfectly normal to be racist and throw people out of the window without blinking, and where justice is a scarce commodity. I may have imagined the ending a little differently, but I still give it the better of four stars. (03/20/2020)

The Three Billboards is a good watch. In terms of direction, it is a great success, with a lot of original ideas (the nail, throwing out of the window). McDonagh moreover came up with a hard-to-categorize story about a mother who uses an unorthodox method of rousing the police to find her daughter’s murderer. Cruel humor alternates with serious topics and, despite a certain theatricality, the picture retains an incredible level of plausibility. Top-notch acting performances, a great soundtrack by Burwell. The less I tell you about it, the better. (01/19/2018)

McDonagh has made a film where a seemingly open ending brilliantly closes the intertwining mosaic of human actions and leaves the viewer wondering what they have just experienced and what to look for behind it all. Don't hesitate to go and see it in the cinema, there may not be something of this quality for another year. (01/12/2018)