Show & Tell: 3 Billboards…

February 13, 2018
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I’m in an unusual position with Three Billboards, as I’ve actually seen it. And I can guarantee you that there isn’t a courtesy nod in the group. I have no idea about potential winners this year—the currents of change in the Academy are too swift to predict—but anything this picture wins it will definitely deserve.

So what’s Three Billboards about? Well, in the simplest terms, it’s about a mother’s quest for justice for her child. But with Frances McDormand playing the mother, the layers go deep. Her anger is mixed with guilt, sure. But she’s also a woman trying to get a little traction in a very masculine world and a divorcee trying to recover her emotional life.

I can’t tell you that Three Billboards is the feel-good movie of the year. (I think I may just have seen the feel-good movie of the year, but it’s also the emotional wringer movie of the year … more about that at the discussion.)

What I can guarantee is that Three Billboards will leave a mark on you. And that’s what the best movies do. While teen comedies and thrillers and adventure fare may ask you to buckle your seatbelt, Three Billboards will tattoo you. And you’ll like it.

I can also guarantee you that this is a movie that calls out loud for a discussion, demands it really. And there’s no place like the Hall for doing the wheat-from-the-chaff thing.

Later this month, you will also get a chance to see (and discuss) Call Me by Your Name, another Best Picture nominee that features a performance by Timothée Chalamet that’s gotten a Lead Actor nod. And as a big plus, TMH will air the Oscar-Nominated Shorts.

And then the Oscars will air and most movie fans will relax back into their winter torpors, waiting for the Easter movies and the first of the big summer movies to get them back into gear. But The Music Hall will just keep delivering the quality, and we will have discussions of The Shape of Water on March 13 and The Darkest Hour on March 20. And we can talk about the Oscars, what won, what didn’t and the moral and spiritual lessons that the broadcast delivered.

I’m looking forward to it. But for right now, I’m looking forward to seeing you at the discussion of Three Billboards. Don’t miss it; you’ll be glad you came.

Paul Goodwin

TMHMG