★★★★½
In its first few moments, as Kate Winslet’s police detective Mare Sheehan schlubs around in the chill early morning air, greeted by first name by overly familiar neighbours with petty gripes,
Mare of Easttown made me think of nothing so much as the Coen Brothers’ 1996 film
Fargo. Right down to the fact that, heck, there’s only a letter’s breadth between Mare and Marge Gunderson, that film’s endearingly folksy cop.
But as Mare’s true nature swiftly reveals itself, it’s another brilliant Frances McDormand character who comes to mind: Mildred in
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Mare is every bit as ornery, prickly, and determined to right injustices as the bereaved mother of Martin McDonagh’s superb 2017 film.