Three billboards is proof that you can have a well written film that is almost devoid of fulfillment. While straightforward in delivery, the contents of this story are complex, its characters, messy, imperfect, flawed. This is not a story of paragons, but of 3 broken people who are who they are because they are each met with tragic circumstance tied to their past, present, or future. This is the kind of movie that essays are written about. A sensitive and impulsive man’s abusive upbringing turns him cruel. A respected public figure and family-man struggles to do his duty in the face of his own mortality, maybe days or weeks away from being completely debilitated by his disease. A mother is hellbent on getting justice at all costs for her daughter, her legacy, murdered and cut short. You will be faced with many questions: How much is ‘justice at all costs’ worth as a justification for unjust acts? Is forgiveness crucial to redemption? Do heroic acts or tragedies excuse one from accountability? From the consequences of their actions? There is little fun to be found in this movie, but if you’re into character analysis and waxing philosophical about narrative themes, then I’d recommend it.