'Manchester by the Sea' Review

Image from Fandango

By Darian Scalamoni

            With Oscar season right around the corner, I finally took myself to the theater to see one of the frontrunners for many awards and that would be Manchester by the Sea written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan (Margaret, You Can Count on Me). Lonergan is often referred to as the “master of depression cinema” and this movie is no exception to that. I want to start by saying that you will not leave the theater in a happy mood most likely after seeing this film. It’s an incredible portrait of depression and emptiness that is beautifully textured and is a richly deep story.

            The movie follows Lee Chandler as a hard-working handyman and janitor in Boston who doesn’t have that much going on for himself. He isn’t big on small talk and just wants to do his job: get in and get out. Chandler then gets the news that his older brother, Joe has died of a heart attack and doesn’t feel much more somber than he already is, even after making the trip back to his hometown, Manchester-by-the-Sea in which certain past circumstances forced him to leave years earlier. These reasoning’s behind his abandonment of his hometown are showed in flashbacks to happier times with his wife Randi and his children. It’s a great technique that doesn’t take you out of the story for one second and helps give the audience more knowledge into why Lee acts the way he does throughout the film.

            The film is gradual in revealing these pieces to the overlying puzzle as you hear many people in the town say “is that the Lee Chandler?” as if he is just a myth or a legend. As the movie goes along there is a deeper thematic sense of past and present in which Lonergan navigates in tremendous fashion. The painful memories begin to rush back to the surface for Lee and though I can’t get into all the details of his tragic past because it could be considered a spoiler, it truly does have your heart wrenching for his character throughout the length of the film. The main plot though as shown in the trailers is Lee taking on legal guardianship of Joe’s son, Patrick. We see in some of the flashbacks how Patrick was as a child and how close he was with his uncle, but now he is a popular, temperamental high school student with two girlfriends. It is within Patrick’s character in which you see a young man not being able to fully grasp the fact that his father has passed away but focuses more on his life and image in school along with doing the things he loves.

            The film is a dramatic movie just for the content alone, following the tragic life of a man like Lee along with the loss of his brother, whom he was closest with. The movie is authentic in its presentation of how people truly deal with loss and grief. It’s often stumbling forward in life one day at a time but not without being a little empty inside.

The acting is tremendous led by Casey Affleck who plays Lee and might be on his way to his first Oscar of his career, in addition to a star making performance for Lucas Hedges as Patrick and even Michelle Williams who plays Lee’s wife, Randi will probably get a Best Supporting Actress nom at the Academy Awards. Lonergan’s direction and incredibly real script partnered with the great acting makes for the best movie I’ve seen this year. If you have problems sitting through subject matter that deals with depression and loss maybe stay away but honestly, everyone should see this movie for the quality alone. Lonergan should also grab some nominations for screenplay and directing this movie which is perfect in my eyes for what it’s trying to accomplish and that’s why I’m awarding it with my first perfect score ever.

10/10