Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
7-Time
Oscar Nominee Released on DVD
Twenty
years ago, Frances McDormand won an
Academy Award for Fargo, a delightful whodunit set in a tiny
Minnesota town inhabited by a cornucopia of colorful local yokels. In
that Coen Brothers' black comedy, she played a dedicated police chief
who was tireless in her efforts to crack a murder case, despite being
pregnant.
Three
Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri is a similarly-dark mystery set
in the Midwest that's also full of folksy characters. But this
go-round, McDormand plays Mildred Hayes, the mother of a teenager
(Kathryn Newton) whose beaten and raped corpse was found lying in a
ditch along a lonely stretch of road.
It's
been seven months since the slaying, and the Ebbing police seem to
have lost interest in apprehending the perpetrator. So, in order to
light a fire under the department, Mildred rents a trio of billboards
near the murder scene on which she asks Chief Bill Willoughby (Woody
Harrelson) in 20-ft.high, block letters why he hasn't yet made an
arrest.
Unfortunately,
the ploy backfires. Yes, it embarrasses the chief. However, it also
generates public sympathy for him, given how everybody in the
tight-knit community knows he's been battling pancreatic cancer.
Undeterred
in her quest for justice, Mildred subsequently prevails upon
Willoughby's dimwitted deputy (Sam Rockwell) to pick up the ball. But
Dixon's a revenge-minded racist who'd rather hassle than help the mom
in mourning while arresting African-American citizens for minor
infractions of the law.
Written
and directed by Oscar-winner Martin McDonagh (for Six Shooter), Three
Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri is a thought-provoking social
satire which paints a chilling, yet plausible, portrait of just what
it might be like to fight an entrenched patriarchy comfortable with a
status quo favoring white males.
Look
for Frances
McDormand to land another Oscar next Sunday for a superb performance
where she convincingly conveys the profound distress of a
grief-stricken mother desperate for answers.
Rated R for violence, sexual references, ethnic slurs and pervasive profanity
Running time: 116 minutes
Studio: Blueprint Pictures
Distributor: Distributor: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Extras: Crucify ‘Em: The Making of Three Billboards; and Six Shooter (Short Film).
To see a trailer for Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jit3YhGx5pU
To order
a copy of the Blu-ray/DVD
Combo Pack, visit:
No comments:
Post a Comment