Manchester By The Sea

So the only thing I heard about this movie prior to watching it was how sad it is. Don't get me wrong, this is a very sad movie. It talks a lot about loss and the emotions that go along with that loss... However I laughed a lot in this movie. There are a lot of great moments of laughter in this movie and it's a lot funnier than people give it credit for.

Manchester by the Seas is set in the Boston / Manchester area and centers around a young man by the name of Lee Chandler (played by Casey Affleck). Lee is a janitor at an apartment complex who keeps to himself. One day he gets a call saying that his brother Joe (played by Kyle Chandler) is sick and when Lee gets to the hospital, he finds that his brother has passed away.

The movie mainly takes place in the days and weeks after the death of his brother and centers on Lee trying to get his brother's affairs in order while taking care of his nephew Patrick (played by Lucas Hedges) as he is coming to terms with the death of his father.

Lee is named the legal guardian of Patrick and that is something he doesn't totally know how to deal with due to his history and the turmoil and tragedy that he has been through himself. I don't want to give anything away because it does feed into the drama and the emotion that goes into the story and the performances given by these actors and actresses involved in this movie.

First and foremost, this story centers on Lee and his nephew. They're both hard nosed Boston boys and they have that rough and tumble, stereotypical Boston street toughness that you see. This defines them as characters and it works really well as they interact with one another and try to get over their tragedy together and figure out how they're going to live in the future.

Now I have not seen the other performances given by the other actors up for Best Actor this year in the Oscars. But I think there is a reason why Casey Affleck got Best Actor because this is really a heart wrenching performance. Again, a lot of it is embedded within the screenplay and the tragedy that he faces prior to the events of this movie. But the other half is his interactions with Lucas Hedge's character and how those two get along.

And you may think that in a movie where two guys are getting over the losses of loved ones it would be a lot of sadness and just be dreary but in reality there is actually a lot of comedy within their tragedy. This could have easily been just Casey Affleck trying to crack the hard shell of his nephew while learning to love again, but instead there's this really awkward and hilarious back and forth between the two of them as Casey Affleck's character tries to be a pseudo father and Patrick trying to have a normal life and be strong and yet the two just don't know how to interact with one another. It's awkward, there's a lot of Fecks thrown around, and it works perfectly.

The movie is littered with flashbacks that help give context to the struggle Lee is going through throughout the film and that's where a lot of the drama and a lot of the emotions come from.

I'm a little bummed that Kyle Chandler didn't at least get a nod for Best Supporting Actor. I don't think the performance is anything worth him winning, especially with the acting of Mahershala Ali to compete with, but I definitely think that Kyle Chandler doesn't get enough credit as an actor and I think he's just now getting recognition.

He does a really good job in this film as Lee's brother Joe and tying it all together.

And then there's Michelle Williams.

Michelle Williams plays Lee's ex-wife and while she doesn't have a lot of screen time, she really does give a solid performance in this film. I haven't seen Fences yet, but this makes me want to see that movie and see exactly what Viola Davis has going on in that performance because this is a damn good one. I'm not sure if it absolutely should have won based on the performance alone, but it is a pretty strong performance. This of course is supplemented by how well the story is written but Michelle Williams absolutely kills it in this role as Randy.

But I think one of the big standouts in this movie is the story. In case you haven't picked up a pattern, it is an event when I decide to watch a movie like this. I don't really like to just watch dramas because I get a little bit bored if I watch too many of them. I like my action and I like high paced stuff to happen when I'm watching a film. I can definitely enjoy a good drama when it comes out and by god, Manchester by the Sea is one of those movies that I could watch again just because the story is so good.

This could have easily just been a tear jerker filled with emotional acting and sadness the entire time. That's really what I thought I was getting into.

Instead I got a really great story about a guy and his nephew going through loss and trying to find a way to make things work for them. There are a couple of moments where it's not even about loss and dealing with the death of Lee's brother. Lots of the time it's just two guys doing their thing trying to be cool with living with one another and because the script is so good and because the acting is so good, it is legitimately entertaining. I cared about these characters and I wanted to see what was going to happen.

Now this does bring up the two biggest issues I had with the film. The length and the ending.

As much as I enjoyed this film, it did kind of go on for a half an hour too long. There were a couple of scenes that probably could have been cut to make that 2 hour mark instead of 2 and a half hours. I'm not sure it needed to be that long.

And then there's the ending.

For some reason 2016 was the year where Best Picture nominees kept going until the director just said, "You know what, we're done. No we don't really need to close anything or get closure, we can just end the film".

And I've had people point out that life doesn't always end neatly and wrap up the way we expect them to in movies. But in both cases of Manchester by the Sea and Moonlight, I felt like there was no real climax and no real wrap up. They just kind of end whenever they feel like ending.

I think I understood Manchester by the Sea's ending more than I did the ending of Moonlight but it doesn't really make sense either way as both movies just stopped at pretty random times. Maybe there's a point I'm missing but I had an issue with it.

Overall though, Manchester by the Sea might be one of my favorite films of the Best Picture nominees I've seen. I still have to check out Hacksaw Ridge and Arrival, two movies that I have a feeling I'm going to really enjoy, but Manchester by the Sea, to me, was one of the more poignant and emotional movies I've seen. The movie was well made, well acted, and I enjoyed watching it. I was invested in the characters and I wanted to see them succeed. I definitely recommending checking this one out.

But those are my thoughts on Manchester by the Sea. Where does it rank within the Oscar Best Picture nominees? What did you think of it? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. Matthew Broderick had a really obscure and random cameo in this film. All I could think of was this. Enjoy!