10 Alternative Best Picture Oscar Film Winners Of The Last Decade

Look, I get it. Guillermo Del Toro's 2017 escapade The Shape of Water was a beautiful fantasy story with spellbinding turns from the supremely talented cast.

Nevertheless, one might justly hypothesize that the film's success derived more from the breathtaking visuals featured rather than the overall dramatic quality of the movie.

While Frances McDormand rightly won the Oscar for Best Actress for her darkly comedic, yet haunting turn in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, the argument can be made that this did not come close to recognizing the sublime acting and story that Martin McDonagh's picture exhibits.

In a gritty, slow-burning crime drama that brings every parent's worst nightmares to life, the gloweringly defiant McDormand plays a grieving mother who rents three billboards outside her local town to draw attention to the grisly unsolved murder and rape of her teenage daughter while calling out the inaction of the local sheriff.

Veteran beloved character actors Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell round out the cast, garnering separate Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor, which Rockwell narrowly edged out.

The impact of the film was so great that it inspired similar billboard style protests in response to the Grenfell Tower fire and the Stoneman Douglas school shooting. Combining a bleak insight into small-town America with revelatory performances from already established stars, Three Billboards trounces The Shape of Water on the sheer strength and depth of the plot, characters, and the lasting impression viewers are left with.