Keep on keeping on, Write Readers. We’re trucking through our list. Let us discuss the Amazon original film, Manchester by the Sea.
Manchester by the Sea was written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan, and starring Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, and Lucas Hedges. The film was first premiered at Sundance, at which point it was picked up by Amazon Studios. The critics raved about Manchester, especially Affleck, and the film was nominated for six Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Affleck, Best Supporting Actor for Hedges, Best Supporting Actress for Williams, and Best Original Screenplay.
Spoiler alerts. Beware.
Manchester by the Sea is the story of Lee Chandler, a handyman living somewhere in Massachusetts. He discovers from a friend, George, that his brother Joe has had a heart attack, and Lee doesn’t make it to the hospital in time. Suddenly, we discover that Joe has named his brother the guardian of his son Patrick, and Lee now effectively has a teenage son. Lee doesn’t want to, and we learn through flashbacks the reason why. Once upon a happier time, Lee was married to Randi and lived in Manchester by the Sea with his three beautiful children. After a raucous night of drinking with friends, Lee walks to get more beer, but decides to throw a log on the fire before he heads out. He comes back to see his entire house in a huge blaze. His wife Randi was pulled out by the firefighters, but the furnace blew, and they couldn’t go back in to save his children, who didn’t make it out alive. The police decide not to press criminal charges, and after their interview, Lee grabs a gun and attempts to commit suicide. He was stopped, he lived, and became a bitter man living in Boston.
Joe’s body is being held on ice in storage, which is creepy and weird, and Patrick thinks so too. They end up staying in Manchester until the funeral, and are able to reconnect. There is conflict, and Patrick thinks Lee wants to get away from him, when really Lee wants to get away from the place that reminds him of all he’s lost. Patrick is in touch with his estranged mother, a recovering alcoholic, who now has in her life a new fiancé and lots of Jesus. Patrick is a little freaked about by her and them, and doesn’t want to move in with her. Lee runs into Randi, who is remarried and has a child, and wants to reconnect after feeling terrible about the way she treated her ex during the divorce. Naturally, Lee is even more miserable than he was before, because that’s pretty awful. He responds in the best possible way- by starting a bar fight. Luckily George gets him out. Lee eventually arranges for Patrick to live with George and his wife. Lee tells Patrick he’s trying to find a different place to life so that Patrick can come visit whenever he wants, but that he just can’t live in Manchester. Patrick is sad, as is everyone else, because it’s a sad movie. The end.
I really wanted to love this film far more than I was able to. I was ready to be in raptures about this film. I was ready to beg the Academy to give the film the highest possible award. I was ready to applaud everyone for such a triumph. Unfortunately, it fell a bit flat for me. But let’s stay positive and talk about the things I enjoyed about the film. The direction was strong, and the portrayal of life in little Manchester was very blunt, like the people themselves. New England is a beautiful place, and the film certainly does it justice. The story itself heartrending. I couldn’t even imagine going through what Lee Chandler experienced in his life. The loss of one’s children? It’s unthinkable. And to feel responsible for such a loss? It’s unthinkable. It’s a storyline that challenges what we believe should happen. Of course, in the end, Lee would decide to be his nephew’s guardian and move to Manchester. They would grow closer, they would bond, and eventually, there would only be one choice. Happily ever after would be down the road, albeit a long road. I love that Lonergan gave us a more challenging ending than that, asking us to understand that there are some things a person never recovers from, Even though we wish it could have ended a certain way, the reality is, Lee isn’t in a place where he is able to care for his brother’s son, and it’s best for everyone that he continue to be honest with himself and with everyone else in the family. The nomination for Best Original Screenplay is certainly well deserved, and I hope it takes that home.
Am I the only person who feels like Casey Affleck is simply pretending to be his brother, Ben, and pretending he’s on set again in Good Will Hunting? I am not understanding all of the fuss about Affleck’s performance in this film. In my opinion, the story and writing have already done all of the work. Affleck is brooding and moody, we watch him be miserable in all the ways a person can be miserable throughout many parts of the film. When we’re not watching him be in pain, we’re watching flashbacks of him drinking with his buddies (please see older brother Ben, drinking in bars in Good Will Hunting). We watch him smile at his children, which actually seems impressive considering he’s brooding throughout the rest of the film. He swears, he feels like he can’t handle things, he’s overwhelmed, he’s nurturing in the rough, coarse, Manchester way he has. It’s not the most overwhelming work I’ve ever seen, to be perfectly honest. The one moment I did find to be inspired was in watching Affleck struggle with the police officers, attempting to take his own life at the end of the interview where he established they were going to let him walk away after (in his mind) he killed his children. The rest of the film I was slightly underwhelmed, particularly after hearing all of the hype the media made about his performance. I’m certainly not sure Affleck would have been able to pull it off if he hadn’t been given all of the other pieces by the writers and the director. Best Director makes sense, Best Original Screenplay makes a lot of sense, but Best Actor? It would depend on the other choices, but I’m not sure we can credit Affleck for the quality of this film.
Some love needs to be given to Michelle Williams who plays Randi, Lee’s ex-wife. Although I’m not sure how difficult it is to play a wife irritated at her husband’s drinking (clearly I’m boiling all of this down very quickly and easily), but to play a wife whose children died in a fire? Her performance was beautiful. When they reconnected I was astonished at the depth of her experience. There are a lot of strong performances in this category and I don’t know if she can pull it off, but certainly the nod was important and I’m glad she got it. Hedges also deserves his Best Supporting Actor nod for his role as young Patrick. He plays a sweet young man, struggling, in pain, wanting to maintain his life in Manchester, alternating between angry, hurt, frustrated, and also wanting to be a normal kid and have his girlfriend sleep over. I think Hedges brings out the most in Affleck, and makes him even more compelling than Affleck is on his own.
Having said all of those things, though the film felt very long to me, and a little bit slow. Perhaps it just wasn’t the movie for me and that’s a personal feeling, but I had a difficult time staying engaged. There were beautiful moments, certainly. I can acknowledge that there was masterful work done. But at the end of the day, the film didn’t keep me there. I would have rather been doing something else. Perhaps you’ll feel differently, Write Readers. See it and let me know what you think.