Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea is an exploration of the tensions in human connection and a contemplation on guilt that is so honest, yet comforting that it’s therapeutic. This is a film that makes one take all the things they’ve done in the past that still weigh hard on them and shows them hope. Shows them it’s possible to let go. That’s something we all might need. Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) isn’t a nice person. He’s a man with an incredible weight that intentionally shuts people out and as the film starts he shuts us out too. Lonergan is smart enough to not let us connect to this man too early. We see him go to work, we see him fight, we see him, a broken man, a guilty man. And then life happens. Chandler must journey back to Manchester by the sea, the last place he wants to go, where his brother has just died and his nephew (Lucas Hedges in a breathtaking if less informed performance) needs a guardian. There’s a gripping sadness to every moment of the film as Affleck transcends his performance in Gone Baby Gone and takes himself to a whole other level of actor, even surpassing the excellent offerings of his brother, Ben. Lee and everyone else seem under the impression that they need to hide their pain and each of them is an emotional time bomb, just ready to explode. Manchester by the Sea is driven by this anticipation, and while simple as the dominoes begin to fall and the relationships of all these grieved people start to reveal themselves the results are both crushing and even a little funny. The writing Lonergan applies here is the reason for that and the way he directs dialogue scenes helps too. Characters are all consistently on the defensive, ready to yell at each other in a way that resembles just birds randomly and hysterically bickering over each other. Each fueled on by their own sad engines they yell “f” words at each other with the precision of an auction dealer and it’s amusing, yet melancholic stuff. This interrupted by moments of true droning sadness takes the funny sadness of life and the real sadness of life and contrasts them. The film's best moment comes when Lee must make a realization that he won’t get ultimately what he deserves for a wrong he did and Affleck’s pain is enough to make me flush cold. It’s all too easy as well. For all the focus and work that needs to go into the honesty of human interaction, Lonergan, and his actors seem to leave that at the door. There’s no difficulty to the ever expanding world and characters of Manchester by the Sea. Sure, there’s big emotional moments that really don’t feel like they should organically find themselves in the story, but there they do, and they beat you up as they come. Manchester by the Sea is a movie where character is king, and with such pained and wonderful beings at its center, this is certainly an important and well-versed film. Manchester by the Sea gets a 10 out of 10. Review by Stephen Tronicek
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archive
December 2017
CategoriesAuthorHello welcome to FilmAnalyst. My name is Stephen Tronicek, and I really like movies. This is a way to get my opinions out to people. Thank you for visiting. |