Review- Manchester by the Sea

Manchester by the Sea is already making a big claim for most depressing film of the year and it's also definitely earning every single award nomination its picked up over the last few months. It's the story of a humble Boston janitor named Lee who has self exiled himself from his home town after a horrific incident. He is forced to return to Manchester though when his brother dies. On returning, Lee naturally has demons to face, not least of which are his estranged ex-wife Randi and his teenage nephew Patrick. Unlike many of the films I've reviewed recently, Manchester is genuinely notable for its plot. The way it is willing to trust us to hold on for the reveal of the incident while still making sure that the reveal packs an impressive and actually sickening punch demonstrates how masterfully the plot has been crafted.

Aside from the plot, the other thing that this film is getting major praise for is the acting, deservedly so. Casey Affleck leads the charge and is doing career best work. He has come a mighty long way from his young but still layered role in Gone Baby Gone over these last ten years. While before, he was a Boston stereotype with surprise depth, here he is a fully complex character, no doubts about it. There are of course the bigger, shoutier moments that get people nominated for awards for but there are also so many intricate subtleties in every single scene he gives. Despite this superb lead, the rest of the cast also manage to impress. Michelle Williams has also been picking up massive acclaim for her role as the ex-wife and while she gives a performance somehow even better than her one in Blue Valentine, the film suffers from a lack of her presence. In flashback scenes, Kyle Chandler is also great as Lee's deceased brother who is willing to forgive him, whatever he does and no matter how himself feels about it. Finally, also deserving of massive acclaim is Lucas Hedges as Lee's nephew Patrick. This is a teenager who has so much emotion inside of him and doesn't know how to express it and he makes every scene work. For a lesser child actor, this would be a wasted role but so good is Hedges, he isn't even really a child actor at this point, he is a fully fledged actor with real talent.

I'm not sure what is really left to talk about for this film. The plot and the acting really are the two highlights of the film, to talk about anything else would be to detract from their excellence. I suppose what really deserves to be talked about is the amount of trust director Kenneth Lonnergan places in his audience. He has created a stunning film but one that isn't a comfortable experience. Not only does he trust his audience to stay with the film throughout its harder moments, Equally, the reveal of what Lee has done happens about halfway through the film and so we are given plenty of time to digest it. Despite this, at no point does Lonnergan ever tell us how to react to it. Lee knows how to react, Randi knows how to react but as an audience, we are left to weigh up everything that's happened. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that there is a moral ambiguity to some of the scenes and most of the characters. You don't have to like them and you'll never be told what to think about them but there are depths and ambiguities to every character. That's something most films don't give you now and they really should.

Manchester by the Sea may be the most depressing film of the awards season but it is also one of the most essential. It is crushing, it is painful but damn if it isn't honest. There are no easy answers, no happy endings, this is the perfection of the kitchen sink genre. I highly recommend this film and easily give it a