Manchester By the Sea - directed by Kenneth Lonergan
Casey Affleck is getting a lot of praise for "Manchester By the Sea".
He has an Oscar nomination for Best Actor and has already won a Golden Globe in the same category.
I am wary when a performance is sited in taglines on posters and by reviews as the main point of praise and that has certainly been the case here.
I liked Affleck in "The Finest Hours" which is an underrated movie but generally I am indifferent to him as an actor.
Michelle Williams on the other hand never fails to impress so with the Oscar attention and her presence this one seemed well worth a look.
Affleck plays Lee a man working as a janitor who seems disconnected from all around him.
He gets a call from the town of Manchester where he used to live advising that his Brother Joe has died.
He goes back to Manchester to handle his Brother's affairs and is told that he is required to become the guardian of his teenaged nephew.
Lee is visibly shocked by this and stammers his way through the meeting at the lawyer's office.
We get flashbacks to when his Brother was alive and slowly pieces of the puzzle that is Lee emerge.
Early on he overhears a woman whose toilet he is plunging on a phone call telling a friend how attracted she is to him but Lee is completely uninterested in pursuing it.
When he profanely puts down a self-important woman who unfairly accuses him of being inappropriate his tirade is devoid of any genuine passion.
Whatever verbal punches he throws at her are merely jabs aimed at backing her off.
It will be some time before we learn the reasons for Lee's disconnect with the world around him but when it comes it is not hard to see why he is the way he is.
I almost wish the movie had started with the tragedy in question because a lot of the nuance to Affleck's performance would have been nice to have seen with that knowledge.
The key thing in my mind while watching the first half of "Manchester By the Sea" was 'what is wrong with this guy and why do I not really care about him too much?'
No doubt that was writer-director Kenneth Lonergan's aim and of course his concerns should be with the story on the whole and not with providing a showcase for the lead actor but still.... I wonder if Affleck's performance would be more impressive on second viewing.
Not to say that he isn't already impressive in the role.
His awards attentions seems completely reasonable to me.
The movie has additional Oscar nominations for Picture, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress and Original Screenplay.
There is no Best Editing however and historically films that are not nominated in that category don't win Best Picture.
Regardless it is Affleck who is expected to win here.
There is a scene where the long awaited confrontation between Affleck's Lee and Williams' Randy - his ex-wife- occurs and there is the sense that Lee is about to completely break down.
It is a joy to watch Affleck's face slowly revealing the pain that he feels internally and I question Lonergan's decision to allow him an escape.
Williams is also exceptional in this scene and indeed in the movie generally.
She doesn't get the screen time that I had hoped but there is no doubt that every single second that she is afforded she makes the absolute most of with a subtle performance that could easily have tipped over into melodrama in a lesser talents hands.
I didn't feel that the other aspects of the film fared as well as the acting of the leads though.
This is a slow paced film that for me didn't use enough of its time on some of the subplots.
Lee's nephew Patrick (Lucas Hedges) seems underwritten.
Like Lee he seems to have dealt with the death of Joe remarkably well but may be bottling up his real feelings.
Patrick is juggling two girlfriends and has a hockey coach (Tate Donovan) who seems to genuinely care about him.
There was no sense that this guy was 'real' and with only one moment where what is really going on inside him is revealed (maybe?) Patrick exists only as a plot device.
Hedges is very good it should be noted.
The aftermath of the main event at the centre of the film is also mysteriously left largely to the imagination.
We see the results on Lee which admittedly is the point of the film but the repercussions on his relationship with Randy are only explored after the fact and really only in that one scene which as I mentioned was cut quite short just as the fireworks seemed to be coming.
I understand the restraint and that Lonergan wants the events to be seen via the man Lee has become but given that we don't see a lot of him prior to the tragedy I question the wisdom.
Ironically the criticism that I have expressed can also been seen as a sign of a movie that does have a lot going on.
It is two and a quarter hours long and holds the attention for much of it.
Trying to understand Lee's behaviour and watching him get both better and worse throughout the movie is rewarding thanks to Affleck's great performance.
I just wish some of the other characters had been given a little more to chew on.
Gretchen Mol is spectacularly underused and just straight disappears.
While it is understandable why it still feels like she, like most of the supporting characters are little more than one dimensional plot devices serving the needs of the lead character rather than people show share his pain at least to some degree.
There is no question that "Manchester By the Sea" is a quality film but for me it is very good rather than great.
Worth it for Affleck and Williams for sure.
RATING: 80 / 100
CONCLUSION: Mainly of note for the superb work from Affleck and Williams this one left me wondering what the point was otherwise.
Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, Lucas Hedges, Tate Donovan, Gretchen Mol, Oscar Wahlberg, Josh Hamilton, C.J. Wilson, Matthew Broderick, Susan Pourfar, Kara Hayward, Anna Baryshnikov, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Missy Yager, Virginia Loring Cooke, Richard Donnelly
Screenplay: Kenneth Lonergan
Music Score by: Lesley Barber
Cinematography: Jody Lee Lipes
Edited by: Jennifer Lame
Running Time: 137 minutes
Language: English
Rated: R13 - Violence & frequent profanity
Running Time: 137 minutes
Language: English
Rated: R13 - Violence & frequent profanity
He has an Oscar nomination for Best Actor and has already won a Golden Globe in the same category.
I am wary when a performance is sited in taglines on posters and by reviews as the main point of praise and that has certainly been the case here.
I liked Affleck in "The Finest Hours" which is an underrated movie but generally I am indifferent to him as an actor.
Michelle Williams on the other hand never fails to impress so with the Oscar attention and her presence this one seemed well worth a look.
Affleck plays Lee a man working as a janitor who seems disconnected from all around him.
He gets a call from the town of Manchester where he used to live advising that his Brother Joe has died.
He goes back to Manchester to handle his Brother's affairs and is told that he is required to become the guardian of his teenaged nephew.
Lee is visibly shocked by this and stammers his way through the meeting at the lawyer's office.
We get flashbacks to when his Brother was alive and slowly pieces of the puzzle that is Lee emerge.
Early on he overhears a woman whose toilet he is plunging on a phone call telling a friend how attracted she is to him but Lee is completely uninterested in pursuing it.
When he profanely puts down a self-important woman who unfairly accuses him of being inappropriate his tirade is devoid of any genuine passion.
Whatever verbal punches he throws at her are merely jabs aimed at backing her off.
It will be some time before we learn the reasons for Lee's disconnect with the world around him but when it comes it is not hard to see why he is the way he is.
I almost wish the movie had started with the tragedy in question because a lot of the nuance to Affleck's performance would have been nice to have seen with that knowledge.
The key thing in my mind while watching the first half of "Manchester By the Sea" was 'what is wrong with this guy and why do I not really care about him too much?'
No doubt that was writer-director Kenneth Lonergan's aim and of course his concerns should be with the story on the whole and not with providing a showcase for the lead actor but still.... I wonder if Affleck's performance would be more impressive on second viewing.
 |
| Williams and Affleck are terrific and this scene is electric |
His awards attentions seems completely reasonable to me.
The movie has additional Oscar nominations for Picture, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress and Original Screenplay.
There is no Best Editing however and historically films that are not nominated in that category don't win Best Picture.
Regardless it is Affleck who is expected to win here.
There is a scene where the long awaited confrontation between Affleck's Lee and Williams' Randy - his ex-wife- occurs and there is the sense that Lee is about to completely break down.
It is a joy to watch Affleck's face slowly revealing the pain that he feels internally and I question Lonergan's decision to allow him an escape.
Williams is also exceptional in this scene and indeed in the movie generally.
She doesn't get the screen time that I had hoped but there is no doubt that every single second that she is afforded she makes the absolute most of with a subtle performance that could easily have tipped over into melodrama in a lesser talents hands.
I didn't feel that the other aspects of the film fared as well as the acting of the leads though.
This is a slow paced film that for me didn't use enough of its time on some of the subplots.
Lee's nephew Patrick (Lucas Hedges) seems underwritten.
Like Lee he seems to have dealt with the death of Joe remarkably well but may be bottling up his real feelings.
Patrick is juggling two girlfriends and has a hockey coach (Tate Donovan) who seems to genuinely care about him.
There was no sense that this guy was 'real' and with only one moment where what is really going on inside him is revealed (maybe?) Patrick exists only as a plot device.
Hedges is very good it should be noted.
The aftermath of the main event at the centre of the film is also mysteriously left largely to the imagination.
We see the results on Lee which admittedly is the point of the film but the repercussions on his relationship with Randy are only explored after the fact and really only in that one scene which as I mentioned was cut quite short just as the fireworks seemed to be coming.
I understand the restraint and that Lonergan wants the events to be seen via the man Lee has become but given that we don't see a lot of him prior to the tragedy I question the wisdom.
 |
| Kyle Chandler as Joe (second from left) and Lucas Hedges as Patrick (with Affleck) |
It is two and a quarter hours long and holds the attention for much of it.
Trying to understand Lee's behaviour and watching him get both better and worse throughout the movie is rewarding thanks to Affleck's great performance.
I just wish some of the other characters had been given a little more to chew on.
Gretchen Mol is spectacularly underused and just straight disappears.
While it is understandable why it still feels like she, like most of the supporting characters are little more than one dimensional plot devices serving the needs of the lead character rather than people show share his pain at least to some degree.
There is no question that "Manchester By the Sea" is a quality film but for me it is very good rather than great.
Worth it for Affleck and Williams for sure.
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