Shot in North Carolina by cinematographer Ben Davis, the film captures small-town America without tipping into sentimentality, It is distinctly American, yet for all the violence and roughness, there is a clear-eyed compassion. The audience is teased with the promise of a resolution but left with a far more morally complex conclusion. McDonagh’s use of black humour to leaven an otherwise grim tale of vengeful wrath is realised in such a way that it deftly underscores the grief of Angela’s family and the decisions made by Chief Willoughby as he struggles to come to decisions that have heartbreaking ramifications. His skill as a playwright is evident in the film’s rapid-fire dialogue and brilliant monologues, while his use of the stage’s standard three-act structure lends the film the gravitas and momentum of a classic tragedy.Ĭomedy and scenes of dramatic power are artfully counter-posed. Writer and director Martin McDonagh is in top form, surpassing even his brilliant work on In Bruges (2008). Most noteworthy of the chief’s allies is Officer Dixon, whose racism, violence and vocational ineptitude is played with a brilliant lack of dignity by Sam Rockwell. The locals are outraged on behalf of their beloved Chief Willoughby and various characters rally to his defence in increasingly violent ways.
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Even the revelation of Willoughby’s terminal cancer will not soften her grim drive for justice. Willoughby attempts to explain the stalled investigation and his frustration with the lack of evidence, but Mildred is implacable. Her action galvanises the town but not in quite the way she anticipated. Taking matters into her own hands, Mildred rents three billboards on a little-used road outside the small township of Ebbing and plasters them with a message designed to shame the local chief of police, Willoughby (Woody Harrelson), into action. It has been nearly a year since the appalling rape and murder of Angela Hayes, and her mother Mildred (McDormand) is incensed by the lack progress in bringing her daughter’s killer to justice. Frances McDormand delivers a powerhouse performance as a grieving mother seeking justice for her murdered daughter in this multi award winning drama of festering rage and a volatile desire for vengeance.