Three Billboards.........

[peter]

Saw this last night and thought

Spoiler

damn! How could they do that! How could they end the film in that way with so many unanswered questions. If it was the guy, how come his DNA didn't match ( the fact that he'd been in the shop saying all that stuff implied it was him, as did his behaviour in the bar, asking if the burned cop had "been there all the time"). Did they go finish the job, did she recognise him, did they turn around and 'abandon hate'. Did she take up with the dwarf - or the burned cop...........

I have no problem with a degree of uncertainty at a films end - but this, to me, overdid it. It's like they ran out of dough to film the last ten minutes - and at the end of such a great movie to boot. Jeez!

[wayfriend]

Yeah. I was gut-punched by the ending as well. Considered in that regard, it worked perfectly.

Spoiler

Real life is exactly like that ending. Expectation and Deserving and Vindication and Justice and Closure and Satisfaction and Necessity have no affect whatsoever on how it unfolds. Drop the mic.

[peter]

Indeed Wayfriend! Food for thought.

[wayfriend]

If you think about it, the movie is a deconstruction of tragedy.

[wayfriend]

If you think about it, the movie is a deconstruction of tragedy.

[peter]

The film has been marketed as a black comedy; I'm not really sure it fits that description myself, but it does have that Fargo/Lone Star feel to it that is fairly rare, but highly effective if (as in this case) done well.

[wayfriend]

I'm posting this because it touches on the complexity of the movie.

'Three Billboards' backlash flows from debate over its message

(CNN)"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" has become one of Oscar season's most divisive films, producing fierce blowback based on what feels like a not-entirely-fair interpretation about what it says, or doesn't, about people's ability to achieve redemption. [link]

[peter]

I'm posting this because it touches on the complexity of the movie.

'Three Billboards' backlash flows from debate over its message

(CNN)"Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" has become one of Oscar season's most divisive films, producing fierce blowback based on what feels like a not-entirely-fair interpretation about what it says, or doesn't, about people's ability to achieve redemption. [link]

It's a good article Wayfriend. I didn't personally see Dixon's story arc as being quite so close to the central message of the film as the writer and those whose views he was commenting on seemed to - but it was clearly important. It'll be interesting to see how it fares when the awards are given out.

[wayfriend]

I didn't personally see Dixon's story arc as being quite so close to the central message of the film as the writer and those whose views he was commenting on seemed to - but it was clearly important.

IMO, Dixon was a bad person, at least at the start, but it was clearly born of stupidity and upbringing, and so I didn't consider his views any kind of statement. But my real disagreement with the backlashers is that they miss the point of the movie, which is everyone is complicated, everyone has bad and has good, and that no one single thing can redeem you completely.

Donaldson once wrote something I took to heart. "Every weakness is a strength misapplied, and every strength is a weakness that has found its proper use." Dixon exemplified that to me.

[peter]

Well put Wayfriend. I'll watch this film again when I get the opportunity and it'll be interesting to see what the effect of prior knowledge of the story and the ensuing discussion has on my perception of it.