“My heart was broken. It’s always gonna be broken and I know yours is broken too”.
Winner of two Oscars in 2017, this is Kenneth Lonergan’s most accomplished and moving cinematic feature to date. From his Oscar winning screenplay perfectly accompanied by Lesley Barber’s beautiful and masterful musical score highlighted by her daughter’s singing of a mournful aria, through to some incredible supporting performances from Oscar nominated Lucas Hedges and Michelle Williams, all supporting a phenomenal and Oscar winning performance from Casey Affleck.
“Lee Chandler” (Casey Affleck) It’s been 20 years since I first saw Casey Affleck star in a film, his off kilter and bizarre portrayal in his brother’s Oscar winning debut film Good Will Hunting. It was an innocent role (in more ways than one) but one that always strikes me whenever I re-watch the Gus Van Sant directed classic of 1997. Minor roles would follow in the Oceans 11 ongoing franchise but in 2007 Affleck produced two superb performances in Gone, Baby Gone and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford that really propelled him into the mainstream, particularly so the role of Robert Ford in Andrew Dominik’s masterful film where his quiet, watchful performance was often overlooked and eerily shadowed here in Manchester by the Sea ten years later. For me, it’s not the towering outbursts of anger that pepper his role here as Lee but rather the quiet, awkward looks, hunched shoulders and nuances of a man simply broken, in mind, body and spirit by events that have shaped his life and which bring him back to Manchester from his new home in Quincy, near Boston. Life has gone on but not for Lee, grief stricken and unable to fully comprehend the events we see in crunching flashbacks throughout the film, “I can’t beat it. I can’t beat it. I’m sorry”.
Following the death of his brother Joe he is thrown into another situation that he is simply ill equipped and unable to deal with, that of the guardian to his nephew “Patrick” (Lucas Hedges). In another Oscar nominated performance, Hedges excels as the angst filled teenager dealing with the loss of his Father and the estrangement from his absent Mother “Elise Chandler” (Gretchen Mol). Hedges portrayal in many ways matches that of Affleck’s as they both slowly come to terms with the distressing events of Joe’s death and Patrick’s quiet yet growing anxiety for the future, mirrored again by Lee as he always believed himself to be simply “a back up” for Patrick and never a full time guardian.
In a film with ostensibly a linear narrative of the present day and with Lee returning to Manchester in the wake of his brother’s death, the film is littered with flashbacks which, in the main, are short, punchy and brilliantly inserted and juxtaposed against the present day story. There is one harrowing exception to this rule but in the main these brief flashbacks show Lee as an exuberant, gregarious and loved family man, husband, father, brother and crucially uncle to Patrick, with whom he shares so much time on the family fishing boat. Throughout both the linear narrative and the flashbacks, a rich supporting cast are introduced as being integral to Lee’s life and which cleverly heightens the angst and grief he feels in present day Manchester. As well as seeing his tender embraces with a younger Patrick, we are now presented with a Patrick struggling to deal with his Father’s death and now a difficult, self interested teenager and Hedges truly deserved his Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Patrick in 2017. Michelle Williams stars in an almost criminally underused cameo role as Lee’s ex wife “Randi Chandler” who despite her minimal screen time propelled this into another Oscar nomination for a supporting role. Her exchange with Lee towards the denouement of the film is truly heart breaking, yet cleverly written to again bring Lee face to face with the past he simply cannot deal with. As well as a third cameo role for Director Lonergan as an angry passer by during a street argument, there is a third appearance in a Lonergan film for Matthew Broderick as “Jeffrey” and a brilliant cameo from CJ Wilson as “George”, a family friend of the Chandler’s.
In a rich and moving screenplay from Lonergan, Lee’s simple refrain of “Do we have to talk about this now?” is perhaps wholly indicative of his constant state of mind and grief ridden angst. Together with his almost continual inability to look anyone in the eye and withdrawn manner, Affleck’s superb performance draws sympathy from the audience and puts us at the heart and soul of a difficult story with an almost silent scream of rage. We often take from films what we bring to them from our experiences and Manchester by the Sea affected me deeply and brought tears to my eyes on more occasions than I care to admit, none more so than with a simple scene towards the end of the film with Lee and Patrick simply strolling quietly together and bouncing an old tennis ball back and forth between them. I did something similar many times with my very own Patrick and this, as well as so many other scenes resonated with me and continue to do so on every re-watch of this magnificent film.
Dry, melancholic and a true portrayal of the simple human emotion of grief and moving on, Manchester by the Sea may not be an easy watch at times but I cannot recommend this highly enough. Don’t expect a catharsis because it won’t arrive, but this film may live with you far longer than after the final credits have rolled.
