Review – Manchester by the Sea

I first saw Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.  It was towards the end of the festival and the hype around the film was through the roof.  The film ended up being one of my favorites of the festival and was one I was constantly thinking about for months after.

I decided check the movie out again when it finally got a wide release, a rarity for me, as I would rather see a new movie than see the same movie twice (something I’ve only started doing recently in order to see the most movies possible).  Seeing this movie again was one of the best decisions I have made at the movies this year.  It was not only a totally new experience watching the film, but solidified it as one of the very best movies of 2016.

Manchester by the Sea is about Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck), a man who must return to his former home of Manchester to take care of his nephew (Lucas Hedges) after the boy’s father dies.  While in Manchester, Lee unknowingly is to be the guardian of his nephew, and he struggles with the decision due to past tragedies that haunt him.

Casey Affleck gives the best performance I have seen in 2016 by any actor as Lee.  Playing essentially two characters, what Affleck does with this role is a thing a beauty and a showcase of the art of acting.  This isn’t a flashy, scenery chewing performance, and it doesn’t require it to be.  What it does require is being able to show internal pain and suffering without dialog and Affleck does this brilliantly.  Lee has suffered immense pain, grief, and anger.  He feels that he doesn’t deserve any happiness and just goes day-by-day waiting for his life to be over.  Even when given a second chance with his nephew, a kid who he has great affection for, he doesn’t want the happiness because of his past.  I’ve loved Affleck as an actor for a long time now, and this is his crowning achievement and one of the best performances of not only the year, but the decade.

Along with Affleck, we get two great supporting performances from Michelle Williams and Lucas Hedges.  Williams should be a frontrunner for Best Supporting Actress at this year’s Oscars, as she turns in somber performance that ranks as one of the best in her long, stellar career.  She has a scene with Affleck that is the definition of powerhouse.  It is the emotional high-point in the film and will kick you right in the gut.  Hedges gives the breakout performance of the year as Lee’s nephew, Patrick.  He’s a confused teen who doesn’t know how to react to his father’s death.  He wants to spend time with his friends and play hockey, yet will have a breakdown about his father’s body being in a freezer until the frozen ground softens up for his burial.  His exchanges with Affleck are really authentic, combining comedy, awkwardness, and melancholy.  It’s an impressive performance from an up and coming actor.

This is a simple movie that will cut you deep, though it isn’t without some lighthearted moments.  Lonergan, who also wrote the script, has crafted a movie about regret, loneliness, tragedy, grief and family.  He shows us the heartbreak of family tragedy, but also shows that life isn’t always sad, even in its darkest moments.  The film has great comedic bits that juxtapose perfectly with its sad tone.  This is a slice of life that everyone at some point has gone through and one that we can all relate to.

Lonergan uses a non-linear structure for the film, bouncing back and forth between Lee’s previous life, when he was a happily married family man, and his current life, dealing with the death of his brother and trying to figure out what would be best for his nephew.  Lonergan and editor Jennifer Lame know exactly when to bounce from the present to past, perfectly paralleling the emotions of each scenes.  This allows us to really understand the characters and what they are going through emotionally.

Manchester by the Sea is a smart, beautiful, touching film with outstanding performances and an incredible amount of emotion and is one of the best movies of 2016.

MY RATING – 4/4

Did you see Manchester by the Sea?  What did you think?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter and Instagram, @kevflix, or on Facebook and YouTube by searching Kevflix.