Three Billboards is the one to beat in the Oscar race

This film reaches us as the front-runner in the awards season races and it thoroughly deserves that status. It is certainly the most intriguingly titled film of the year and I am confident that, even at this indecently early stage, it will be one of the best films of the year. If I see many films better than Martin McDonagh’s darkly-bitter comedy I will count myself fortunate.

In one sense Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri does exactly what it says on the tin. It is a film about a trio of advertising hoardings outside a small town in Missouri. The titular media spaces are the vehicle for a rage-filled cry against a cruel and uncaring world by Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand).

Less than a year previously her daughter, Angela, was raped and murdered and the case has now gone cold. Mildred sees the billboards as an opportunity to ask questions of authority, specifically local sheriff Bill Willoughby (Woody Harrelson). Why no arrests, demands Mildred. Possibly because the local police are understaffed and underqualified, as exemplified by Officer Jason Dixon (Sam Rockwell), a bitter racist whose badge covers a multitude of shortcomings.

One of the joys of Three Billboards is its ability to surprise. In other hands this would be a crusading woman fighting against an uncaring police force. That’s not what this is about; Willoughby isn’t uncaring, it’s just that his men are operating at the edge of their competence. The trail has gone cold and they can’t revive it.

Although seldom seen, and then only in crime scene photos, Angela is the lynchpin of this story; what screenwriters refer to as the inciting incident. She’s dead and there’s nothing anyone can do about it; this film looks at the impact her death has on those left behind.

Frances McDormand is one of the finest actors of her generation and her performance here is a career best in my opinion. Mildred has been ill-used by life, and the death of her daughter has her on her last nerve. The only things keeping her going are anger and rage. The billboards are a manifestation of that.

It’s a glorious piece of acting. Mildred is making waves, Willoughby is a popular sheriff combating difficult circumstances, and people are embarrassed and angry. But Mildred doesn’t care. There are two wonderful scenes where she fights back – one against a dentist, the other against a priest. These are bravura moments, superbly written by McDonagh and showcasing McDormand at the peak of her powers.

But it is in the grace notes that the character comes alive. Those moments of doubt and fear and uncertainty and grief – often conveyed in a thousand yard stare - which McDormand allows us to see only fleetingly, but which bring the character vividly to life.

The supporting cast is superb. Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell may miss out by splitting the vote in the Best Supporting Actor categories, but they are both terrific. So too are Lucas Hedges, Peter Dinklage, Caleb Landry Jones, John Hawkes and Samara Weaving.

For me Rockwell is the pick of the bunch, and for the same reason as McDormand. It could be a flashy part, a scenery-chewing redneck, but he plays it small and his choices make Dixon real and his character arc entirely believable.

The script and direction from Martin McDonagh are excellent. He has that wonderful edginess that he brought to In Bruges (2008) , a quality that makes you laugh and feel ashamed at the same time. Uncommonly for a playwright McDonagh also has a fine visual sense. The cinematography of Ben Davis, who is more usually to be found in the Marvel Universe, creates an authentic visual landscape which perfectly complements the film’s emotional tone.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a film which is by turns dark and angry and comic, but it never loses sight of its humanity. In the end there is just enough sentiment, all of it authentic and completely earned, to pull us all back from the edge of the abyss. Definitely not to be missed.