Another fabulous movie this season, the story of a grieving mother trying to get justice for her murdered daughter is a lot funnier than it sounds, yet it's moving and boasts much character development. Francis McDormand is magnificent as the filter-free Mildred in a role written for her (she was last blogged for Hail, Caesar!). Woody Harrelson (most recently in The Glass Castle) is great as the kind but foul-mouthed police chief--in fact, almost everyone is foul-mouthed in this dark tale. Sam Rockwell (last in Laggies) brings humor as the dumb cop Dixon, until we realize what a menace he is. Caleb Landry Jones (just seen in The Florida Project) has a nice turn as advertising manager Red, as do Abbie Cornish (most recently in Robocop) as the chief's wife, Lucas Hedges (just seen in Lady Bird) as Mildred's son Robbie, and Peter Dinklage (last blogged for The Boss) as James (who is resigned to the yokels calling him a cruel and outdated word for a little person), among many. Darrell Britt-Gibson (best known to me as a character actually named Shitstain in 17 episodes of You're the Worst, he was also in six episodes of Californication and Keanu) makes a nice appearance as one of the billboard installers and Kathryn Newton (profiled in Lady Bird) shows up in flashback as the dead daughter Angela.
This is the third feature directed and written by Martin McDonagh (covered in these pages for Seven Psychopaths, which also starred Harrelson, Rockwell, and Cornish, among others; he is also a lauded author and playwright) and he is talented at pivoting from the ridiculous to the sublime. Following many nominations and wins for In Bruges (2008), he's starting to rack them up for this one, too.
Despite the picture's title, the glorious scenery was actually shot in Sylva, North Carolina, by Ben Davis (Avengers: Age of Ultron). McDonagh is an Englishman, by the way, and I haven't unearthed any reason he decided to set it in the fictional town of Ebbing, Missouri.
Lovely music by the prolific Carter Burwell (last scored Wonderstruck) can be streamed from this link, including The Last Rose of Summer by Renée Fleming, Jeffrey Tate & The English Chamber Orchestra and nearly the whole Joan Baez rendition of The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.
Ann, Jack, and I loved this movie and Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences averages are 94 and 91%, respectively. Jack thinks McDormand may get an Oscar nomination and I'd be pleased if that happens.
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