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The Next Picture Show

#105: (Pt. 2) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri / State & Main (2000)

The Next Picture Show

Filmspotting

Tv & Film, Film History, Film Reviews

4.6858 Ratings

🗓️ 30 November 2017

⏱️ 61 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Following our visit to David Mamet’s STATE AND MAIN, we head to another small town for a different sort of redemption tale: Martin McDonagh’s THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI. While the two films may not have a whole lot of overlap in terms of plot, they share a theatrical lineage as well as a tweaked view of small-town life, and both feature stacked ensembles with a strong handle on writerly dialogue, all of which we dig into here. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your cinematic radar. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about STATE AND MAIN, THREE BILLBOARDS, or both by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.  Your Next Picture Show:  • Scott: Brett Morgan’s JANE and Chris Smith’s JIM & ANDY: THE GREAT BEYOND • Genevieve: Nora Twomy’s THE BREADWINNER • Tasha: Joachim Trier’s THELMA • Keith: Jamie M. Dagg’s SWEET VIRGINIA Outro Music: The Four Tops, “Walk Away Renee” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:04.0

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0:10.7

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0:16.4

It's very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present.

0:20.1

You believe that someone out of the past can enter and take possession of a living being?

0:26.8

We may be true with the past, but the past is not through with us.

0:33.7

Welcome back to the next picture show, a movie of the week podcast devoted to a classic film in the way it's shaped our thoughts on a recent release.

0:40.8

I'm Tasha Robinson, here again with Scott Tobias.

0:43.3

Genevieve Keevskie.

0:44.2

On the first half of this episode, we discussed State and Maine, David Mamet's antic-black comedy about a hapless director trying to make a film while everything around him is falling apart.

0:54.1

Or possibly it's a film about a put-upon screenwriter who's just looking for a second chance.

0:58.2

Or maybe it's a movie about a creepy sex offender of a leading man who discovers he can count on his bosses to bail him out of any trouble.

1:04.2

It's up for debate, really.

1:05.6

But Martin McDonough's three billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri is a lot more specific. It's another black comedy with an ensemble cast full of famous faces, but this one is more clearly the story of

1:15.1

Mildred, played by Francis McDormid, and how she takes on the establishment in her small town,

1:19.7

trying to get the police department to properly address the rape and murder her of her daughter

1:23.1

seven months ago. Martin McDonough came to cinema from the stage, where he originally wrote

1:27.3

plays about Ireland and his family roots. And his film scripts came to cinema from the stage where he originally wrote plays

1:27.5

about Ireland and his family roots. And his film scripts tend to read like opened up stage

1:31.6

plays. They're crammed with characters, full of speeches, prone to dramatic plot turns,

1:36.6

and often fixed in specific spaces that feel like stage sets, as his characters fence and

1:41.4

banter with each other. Like David Mamet, he gravitates towards

...

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