Film – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

This is a film where we root for none of the characters only to find all the badness is a result of incident and they have good in them.Despite the horrendous story line, there is humour dotted throughout. Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand) puts up three billboards directed at the town Sheriff (Woody Harrelson) who she feels has done nothing to find the killer of her daughter several months ago.It has an effect, although perhaps not the desired one. One of the cops, is a racist-but-really-just-ignorant Officer Dixon (Sam Rockwell), who is desperate to become a detective but doesn’t know how. There are bodies thrown out of windows while a senior cop watches and buildings burnt down in the middle of the street.What makes this story is that the very people Mildred feels are her enemies could turn out to be her best allies. If only people just sit down and thrash out their differences over a cup of tea (says a non-tea drinker but you get my point).This is a film that will come up in conversations long after the Oscar talk has stopped. A great start to the year.8/10