My Weekend with McDonagh
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2018)
If Seven Psychopath left my lost for thought, this has left me lost for words. Three Billboards is a masterclass in storytelling, screenwriting and filmmaking.
In Bruges is what among what I would consider to be "Perfect films". Those with relatively little wrong with them, and which accomplish everything it set out to achieve in the best way possible. By this metric, I don't think Three Billboards is a "perfect film" but it comes damn close.
I'll begin with its shortcomings. The first I didn't realise I didn't like until YMS pointed it out. This was the performance of Lucas Hedges. While I didn't hate it, it definitely took me out of the film and I enjoyed the scenes he was in less because of his performance. It never felt like I was watching a real character, like every single other person on screen, it felt like I was watching an actor act lines. The other shortcoming I thought was how Peter Dinklage's character was worked in. Something about it didn't work for me. It feels tacked on, like the role itself was kind of a McGuffin. Dinklage's performance is fine, though. There's also two instances of awkward looking CGI, one of which is quite distracting during the scene.
Now let's get onto the great shit. BASICALLY EVERYTHING! This film is fucking amazing and you need to see it 3 times, once for each Billboard. If my wallet would allow it, I would have seen it twice that amount. Frances McDormand is phenomenal, completely melting into Mildred. I always find it amazing when I don't see the actor at all in the role. I saw Woody Harrelson, I saw Sam Rockwell, I saw Peter Dinklage, I never saw Frances McDormand. I only say Mildred. The "Best Actress" category isn't even fair this year, McDormand stole it, and stole my heart (She did that in Fargo, though). With only a look, you immediately feel what she's feeling, and know what she wants to do, even if you don't know why. And when you do find out why, she tears you apart.
Woody Harrelson was great. It would have been so easy to make this character into an irredeemable arsehole, but they don't go that route. They don't really go that route with anyone. Which leads me onto Sam Rockwell, who is a freaking revelation as Dixon. Not since Jaime Lannister have I been so sympathetic and intrigued by someone initially presented as a complete fuckwit. His performance really endeared me to his character, and would be the best in the film had this not been McDormand's wild ride from the start.
Carter Burtwell's beautiful score works together stunningly with the cinematography to bring you into the film. It really adds to the mise-en-scene when you feel like you're really in this small town (similarly to In Bruges). I sometimes felt like I was watching something shot on film, the sheer amount of rich colour in the frame was magestic.
McDonagh's usual themes are present, of course. Death, the afterlife, midgets. Standard shit. It's a lot more ponderous on its themes than In Bruges or Seven Psycopaths. A lot of this is told visually, with silence or music.
I can't wait to see it again.
9/10
My choice for Best Picture, until I see the others.