With all the films that are based on a particular person or situation, it's a pleasure to see a story of pure fiction. It's getting quite common place to see biopics these days, so when I saw my first trailer of "Manchester by the Sea", I felt it was going to be an extremely well-crafted film and my suspicions were fulfilled.
After the sudden death of his older brother Joe (Kyle Chandler), Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) is shocked to learn that Joe has made him sole guardian of his 16 year-old nephew Patrick (Lucas Hedges). Taking leave of his job in Boston, Lee reluctantly returns to Manchester-by-the-Sea to care for Patrick.
A hardened handyman, Lee, soon after his arrival, also unearths his checkered past. Soon Lee comes back in contact with his estranged ex-wife, Randi (Michelle Williams) as he deals with life in his tight-knit former community. As he continues to meet with the people of his past, he becomes more and more convinced that he cannot reside in this community even though Patrick is firm on his inability to live anywhere else but in this seaside community.
Others to round out the cast are C.J. Wilson as George, Gretchen Mol as Elise, Kara Hayward as Silvie, one of Patrick's girlfriends, Anna Baryshnikov as Sandy, another one of Patrick's girlfriends, Matthew Broderick as Jeffrey, Christian Mallen as CJ, Oscar Wahlberg as Joel, Tom Kemp as Stan Chandler, Lee's dad, Liam McNeill as Josh, Tate Donovan as Hockey Coach and Josh Hamilton as Wes, Joe's lawyer.
This was painstakingly directed by Kenneth Lonergan ("You Can Count on Me" 2000, "Margaret" '11). Surely this filmmaker doesn't have a ton of experience, but he is an incredible director. His experience is mostly in the writing realm, but he has obviously learned his craft as director just being around so many others. The way he was able to get his actors to emit just the right type and amount of emotion is mind-bogging. Other than writing, this filmmaker has found his niche. It was also written by Lonergan ("Analyze This" '99, "You Can Count on Me" 2000, "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle" 2000, "Analyze That" '02, "Gangs of New York" '02, "Margaret" '11). Certainly after writing "Gangs of New York", one can see why he could easily write this film considering the pure seriousness of each production. This film definitely has similarities to that of '08's "Revolutionary Road" in that each film was played out in a way that it was as if the audience was eavesdropping in on the characters, because these actors seemed so real, and each film had a depressed feeling to them, otherwise these films were definitely their own films. The audience watches films like these for the artistry of the film as opposed to the entertainment package. Other than a few slow areas in story (the running time could've been about 10mins less), this screenplay was powerful. Affleck could be looking at an Oscar nod come that time.
As stated, you are not seeing this film for the entertainment factor as much as the fact this is an incredibly well crafted gem, but as the film comes to an end, this will leave the moviegoer thinking quite a lot after the end credits roll.
Out of 4 Stars: 3.5 Rated: R 137mins.
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