Film Review: Manchester by the Sea

“I said a lot of terrible things to you. My heart was broken, and I know yours is broken too.”

Film awards season is well and truly upon us. La La Land seems to be the front runner in terms of Best Picture and many other categories and I will write my review for that film once I’ve seen it. However, I have seen two Oscar contenders (in the Best Actor race) which I can’t wait to write about. These two films are Manchester by the Sea (obviously) and Hacksaw Ridge.

Manchester by the Sea is the third film from director/writer Kenneth Lonergan and it stars Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams. This film tells the story of Lee Chandler, a janitor from New England who has to return home to the titular seaside town in order to take care of his nephew after a tragedy.

This film is a tough watch. It has such unfiltered, unsentimental emotion flowing through it that after a point it hurt me to continue watching. I don’t mean this in a negative sense, but I mean it in a emotionally truthful sense. The film contains several tragic events and confrontations of long-buried emotions which brought me to tears and those feelings have stayed with me. Sounds like fun, huh?

It’s not a fun film but it is a worthwhile one. Too many films are melodramatic and sentimental but this film gives a truthful and powerful account of a man torn apart by heartache. I think it’s one of the most brilliant character studies ever put on screen.

In the lead role, Casey Affleck is simply wonderful. He underplays every scene to perfection and completely disappears into the role. More often than not, I see the actor rather than the character, but in this case, Affleck was Lee. All his mannerisms, his words, his silences and pauses are wonderfully modulated and realistic. At the film’s opening you can’t understand why Lee doesn’t talk and why he has such a short temper. After a certain point, and one devastating reveal later, you bridle at every person who criticises him, who belittles him. He is fully deserving of all the award recognition he is receiving.

He has one scene with Michelle Williams (briefly glimpsed in the trailer and where my opening quote is from) which might be the most moving and perfect scene I’ve seen so far this year.

Williams is also brilliant, and credit has to go to Lucas Hedges as Lee’s nephew Patrick. He delivers a very abrasive but complex performance which charms and annoys in equal measure. His performance is fantastic.

Overall, this film is a tragic, heart-wrenching but deeply human with an incredible central performance from Affleck. I think it may be the film counterpoint to Paterson, as Manchester by the Sea is about human despair, Paterson is about human contentment. Both are low-key human dramas with outstanding central performances. I would recommend this film if you don’t mind a slow pace and a truly moving but melancholic mood.