Masters of Dark Comedy: Martin McDonagh pt.3 Three Billboards by Jared Watson

It was sometime in the mid to late 90’s when Martin McDonagh was riding a bus through America. It was somewhere in the southern states where a specific billboard caught his eye. It described a gruesome death, and called out police for not doing anything. “The sign flashed by and it stuck in my mind, just bubbling away… the pain and rage and sadness of the person who would put that out there” (McDonagh).

He decided that it must have been a mother, and the character of Mildred popped out. It was from that, that he wrote the screenplay for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Mildred, portrayed by Frances McDormand, rents three billboards seven months after the murder of her daughter. The billboards criticize the local police for not doing enough to solve her murder, specifically calling out Chief Bill Willoughby. McDonagh’s track record continues as the town itself is a character in its own right, while it lambasts Mildred for going after the Chief so harshly, especially after revealing that he has malignant cancer. Those especially upset are a lady with a funny eye, a fat dentist, and Officer Jason Dixon, a racist and violent alcoholic played by Sam Rockwell.

McDonagh states that he wanted to keep a delicate balance of comedy and drama, so he had to cut several very funny scenes, especially ones that included Sam Rockwell. Just like Rockwell’s part in Seven Psychopaths, McDonagh wrote the part of Jason Dixon specifically for him. While Rockwell’s humor was more boisterous, McDormand’s was very much deadpan, as she only smiles a couple times in the film, delivering some of the funniest lines. Three Billboards deftly blends humor and drama as it tells the story of a heartbroken mother, driven by rage and despair as she leaves destruction in her wake. It is also a story about love, forgiveness, redemption, and regret. It weaves a tale about characters, not of good vs evil, but the grey area in between. These characters live in rural America, tend to talk in such a way that much of the country would find to be pejorative in nature and contain a few racist, homophobic and ableist slurs. Keeping that in mind, this film is still such a beautiful piece of art, and one this critic encourages everyone to go see.

Jared Watson is a moviemaker, writer, and avid cinefile. Check out his work: https://www.ridgeviewdrive.com/