Movies: “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” Is A Must-See Film

Before This Year’s Academy Awards – Now In Select Cinemas In Philippines

Frances McDormand & Peter Dinklage

A last stand erupts in director Martin McDonagh’s trip into small town America in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” as a mother is pushed to the edge by her daughter’s unsolved murder.  The film is the third from Martin McDonagh, the Irish playwright, screenwriter and director known for the hit thriller “In Bruges,” with its Oscar® nominated and BAFTA winning Screenplay, and the crime comedy “Seven Psychopaths.” 

At the core of the movie is Mildred’s conflict with Ebbing’s Chief of Police.  “The story is a war between two people who are both to some degree in the right,” McDonagh notes, “and that’s where so much of the tension and drama arises.”  Those tensions become the exploration for what happens when rage can’t be calmed.  As the tension mounts, the film delves into themes of division, anger and moral reckoning. 

Playing Mildred Hayes, who sets the events of THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI in motion, is Frances McDormand.  McDormand made her film debut in the Coen Brothers’ noir classic BLOOD SIMPLE and has gone on to a career that includes garnering the Triple Crown of Tony, Emmy and Oscar® awards.  With the character, McDormand explored a tradition long reserved for men:  the lone hero who defiantly stands off against a town.

Movie Review: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri

One of the things I loved about "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" (and there are a lot ) is that you never really know what direction the story is going. It has that unique "tragic comedy" element which is both unexpected and endearing at the same time. 

Frances McDormand's award winning performance (which is already reason enough to see the film, although there are more) of a grieving, in search of justice for her daughter who was brutally killed and raped, becomes frustrated that there have been no arrests and takes matters into her own hands by renting three billboards with this sequence of messages: 

"RAPED WHILE DYING", "AND STILL NO ARRESTS?", and "HOW COME, CHIEF WILLOUGHBY?" 

The small town is immediately against Mildred (McDormand) as they choose to rally behind and support the local Chief, Bill Willoughby (played by Woody Harrelson) who is also suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer. 

What follows is a mix of tragic and comedic exchanges between Mildred and the people around her, particularly racist officer Jason Dixon (also an award winning performance from Sam Rockwell) who confronts Mildred and harasses her friends. 

With the effective use of dark comedy and powerful performances from its veteran cast, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" is a beautiful and powerful film about a small town who is forced to come together amid a grieving mother's struggle to find justice for her daughter, which during the course of the film turns into healing and acceptance through the most hilarious and shocking circumstances. 

With powerful performances from its stellar cast, led by the tough and grieving Mildred (Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell is also a winner!) "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" won't go the way you think it would and that keeps it interesting and in turn would keep you guessing throughout. Shoutout to Peter Dinklage who is hilarious in the film! 

10/10 a film filmed with lessons on life and how sometimes it does take a village to get things done, in this case, find peace, forgiveness and acceptance.   

This Oscar contender opens on Feb.14 in the following cinemas: Eastwood, Shangri-la Mass, Century City Mall, Commerce Mall, Festival Mall, Fisher Mall, Gateway Mall, Fora in Tagaytay and at Vista Cinemas: Evia, Las Pinas, Sta. Rosa, Bataan, Pampanga and Daang Hari. 

Movies: Acclaimed “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” Opens This February 14

For the love of her daughter, a mother takes action into her own hands to help solve the murder of her daughter in this year’s highly-anticipated award-winning film “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”.

An entertaining dramedy featuring an extremely talented cast as Frances McDormand in the lead role, along with Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Abbie Cornish, Lucas Hedges, John Hawkes and Peter Dinklage, “Three Billboards Outside, Ebbing Missouri” all begins with Mildred Hayes (McDormand) and the three billboards she rents on Drinkwater Road.  Mildred is an aggrieved mother who is strong, determined and raging, yet also broken inside because of what happened to her daughter.   A last stand erupts between Mildred and the small town’s Chief of Police, Bill Willoughby (Harrelson) has failed to solve the murder and left her with no solace.  But the more one gets to know Chief Willoughby, the more it becomes clear that the man Mildred is going to war with is already fighting a private battle.

Directed by Academy Award® winner Martin McDonagh (In Bruges), relates that McDonagh’s greatest challenge was balancing the dark comedy of the story with Mildred’s emotion-driven quest.  He trusted that the humor would be there, black and biting, even as he allowed his characters to reel with anguish over loss, unfairness and the resistance to change. “What’s happened to Mildred’s daughter is so sad and horrific, I felt the most important thing was to keep a rein on the comedy, even on the blackness, and make sure Mildred’s struggle against the hopelessness of the situation maintained itself all the way through, tone wise,” McDonagh says.

Moives: Multi-Talented Actor Sam Rockwell In Latest Award-Winning Role In “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

A frustrated mother rents “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” as her teenage daughter’s murder stands unsolved.  The arresting messages on the billboards Mildred put up that read “Raped While Dying, And Still No Arrests? and How Come Chief Willoughby?” resulted in division, anger and moral reckoning among the townsfolk.

It all begins with Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand) and the three billboards she rents on Drinkwater Road.  Caught in the crossfire between Mildred and Chief Willoughby (Harrelson) is the chief’s right hand man, Officer James Dixon, played by Sam Rockwell, whose role had won him this year’s Best Supporting Actor Award at the Golden Globes, Screen Actors’ Guild, Critics’ Choice and from the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts.   Rockwell is also nominated for Best Supporting Actor category in this year’s highly-anticipated Academy Awards.

Dixon is an officer whose potential is self-sabotaged by intolerance and a wildly erratic temper, usurping the chief’s authority and order. Ultimately, as Dixon’s curiously co-dependent home life is revealed, the source of his psychic angst comes clear.   “He still lives with his mom and he’s a bit stunted, unable to just break free and finally become an adult,” Rockwell explains.  “He has an extremely dysfunctional relationship with his mom, which makes for quite a bit of trauma and then he takes that out on other people.”

Movies: Award-Winning Film “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” Tackles Mom’s Undying Love On Fedb. 14

Frances McDormand and Woody Harrelson in 3 Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri

One of this year’s highly-acclaimed film “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” will finally open in the Philippines on February 14 in select cinemas – Eastwood, Shangri-La Mall, Century Mall, Commerce Mall, Festival Mall, Fisher Mall and Fora in Tagaytay.

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” is a darkly comedic drama from Academy Award® winner Martin McDonagh (In Bruges). After months have passed without a culprit in her daughter’s murder case, Mildred Hayes (Academy Award® winner Frances McDormand) makes a bold move, commissioning three signs leading into her town with a controversial message directed at William Willoughby (Academy Award® nominee Woody Harrelson), the town's revered chief of police. When his second-in-command Officer Dixon (Sam Rockwell), an immature mother’s boy with a penchant for violence, gets involved, the battle between Mildred and Ebbing's law enforcement is only exacerbated.

Mildred marks the first time McDonagh has written a female lead for a film, but she is perhaps his most relentless character as well, an aggrieved mother without regret who comes to test the very fabric of her town.  Joining McDonagh and McDormand in the ensemble at the heart of the film are acclaimed actors Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Abbie Cornish, John Hawkes, Lucas Hedges and Peter Dinklage.