{"id":134,"date":"2018-03-08T23:25:11","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T23:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tenjin.co.uk\/blog\/?p=134"},"modified":"2019-01-08T23:28:43","modified_gmt":"2019-01-08T23:28:43","slug":"film-review-three-billboards-outside-ebbing-missouri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tenjin.co.uk\/blog\/?p=134","title":{"rendered":"Film Review: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri (2018)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Many reviewers describe Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri as a dark comedy, indeed the poster borrowed for this review calls it \u201cDarkly Comic\u201d. I don\u2019t think so: it\u2019s an emotional rollercoaster, but one that delivers hyped-up, intensified emotions rather than rich emotional experiences. But it delivers them well.<\/p>\n

I thoroughly enjoyed the film, the performances by Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, and Sam Rockwell in particular are great. The plot thunders along, twisting and turning with a skill so\u00a0well honed that it barely registers at the time, and only on reflection after the film closes do you have time to think what the hell?<\/em><\/p>\n

Because of that, there is a certain detachment: you never get enough time to properly engage with your emotions before you are forced into a contrast. You start to cry, then you are forced to laugh before the tears come; you feel anxious, but elated before fight-or-flight can kick in.<\/p>\n

This is a film of extremes: one minute you feel the excruciating pain of a mother who has lost her daughter in such horrible circumstances, the next you laugh at the ridiculous racism and stupidity of Rockwell\u2019s Dixon.<\/p>\n

The sheriff is a tragic character, played particularly well by Harrelson. We feel contempt for his apparent red-necked laziness at the start, more\u00a0Boss Hogg<\/em> than\u00a0Tom Bell<\/em> it seems, but we learn about his complexity, the pain (literal and emotional) he struggles with throughout the film, and end up if not respecting him for it, at least understanding it.<\/p>\n

This movie is a demonstration of the art of film making, a great piece of cinematography; whether or not the wild twists make it your cup of tea you will have to decide for yourself.<\/p>\n

I give this film: 8.5\/10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many reviewers describe Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri as a dark comedy, indeed the poster borrowed for this review calls it \u201cDarkly Comic\u201d. I don\u2019t think so: it\u2019s an emotional rollercoaster, but one that delivers hyped-up, intensified emotions rather than rich emotional experiences. But it delivers them well. I thoroughly enjoyed the film, the performances by Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson,...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenjin.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenjin.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenjin.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenjin.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenjin.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=134"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/tenjin.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":299,"href":"https:\/\/tenjin.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134\/revisions\/299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenjin.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenjin.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenjin.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenjin.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}