'Manchester By The Sea' Review

Nominated For: Best Picture, Best Director; Kenneth Lonergan Best Actor; Casey Affleck, Best Supporting Actor; Lucas Hedges, Best Supporting Actress; Michelle Williams, and Best Original Screenplay.
Won: Best Actor; Casey Affleck and Best Original Screenplay.

Manchester By The Sea follows the life of handyman Lee Chandler as he suddenly learns that due to his brother's passing he must become his teenage nephew's guardian but he's not quite sure he can handle it based on some preceding personal events that I won't spoil here.

Manchester By The Sea is currently one of three frontrunners in this upcoming awards race standing alongside La La Land and Moonlight in all the major categories, and these films couldn't be any more different. Where La La Land is a musical about pursing your dreams and some of the harsh realities that accompany that, Moonlight tells the coming of age story about an outsider, and Manchester By The Sea is a drama about grief and the complications of life. 

Manchester By The Sea is written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan and he did an incredible job of making these characters and situations not only real but somewhat relatable, as the struggles these characters endure are struggles everyone encounters in their lives. The film is relatively simplistic in all departments but that takes it one step closer to feeling all the more authentic. It's well-shot with straightforward handsome shots of the ocean waves from Jody Lee Lipes, well-edited with seamless transitions by Jennifer Lame between the present day and flashbacks taking a peek at the events that shaped Lee, and extremely well-directed and well-written by Lonergan thanks to his emphasis on making everything seem genuine. 

I think my favorite aspect of Manchester By The Sea is that despite being categorized as a drama, nothing feels overdramatic for the sake of conflict or grabbing the viewer's attention. In fact, everything in Manchester By The Sea feels authentic and plausible from awkward conversations to the layered depictions of the story's characters.

Casey Affleck puts forth a subdued performance as Lee Chandler perfectly capturing the complex nature of someone in grief or that's undergone heavy amounts of personal trauma. Affleck plays Chandler as a reserved man with a hardened exterior and while it's off-putting at first, you sympathize for the character once you learn his backstory and the performance really does deserve the praise it's garnered thus far.

Lucas Hedges plays Lee's nephew, Patrick, in the ideal middle ground between a self-absorbed jerk and a whiny brat with a more sincere turn at an actual teenager. He says it himself, he's on the hockey team, has two girlfriends, and is in a band. Hedges makes a nice impression here and stands well alongside Affleck despite being such a young actor.

Michelle Williams is being heavily talked for this and I feel she put forth a great performance but I'm not quite sure she's a standout when compared to her co-stars as Lee's ex-wife Randi. Elsewhere, Matthew Broderick, Kyle Chandler, C.J. Wilson, and Gretchen Mol have decent turns as important players in the story.

In summary, Manchester By The Sea has strong confident direction and formidable screenplay from Kenneth Lonergan, features exceptional performances from Casey Affleck and Lucas Hedges, and is simply a beautiful film about grief. Manchester By The Sea is an authentic cinematic experience that may not be for everyone but is certainly one of the more emotionally resonant films I've seen this year.

Film Assessment: A