Manchester by the Sea Reviews
Manchester by the Sea review
Posted : 7 years ago on 29 March 2017 10:560 comments, Reply to this entry
Manchester by the Sea review
Posted : 7 years, 1 month ago on 3 March 2017 06:30*Honestly I knew almost nothing about this before watching it.
*All I knew is that people said it was really well done but very sad.
*I decided to go ahead and check this out though since Casey Affleck won for it.
*This is first film I have seen directed by Kenneth Lonergan although I saw his Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle movie that was dreadful.
*I guess he learned from that mistake with this one.
*Anyways let's see what all this fuss is about.
Pros:
*The acting is phenomenal specifically from Casey Affleck of course.
*The whole story is fresh and interesting.
Cons:
*It's very emotionally draining.
*The timeline was a bit annoying to keep track of.
*I think the nephew could have been better as he just seemed typical to me.
Verdict:
I think it was worth checking out mostly because of Casey Affleck. The story pretty emotional and I wasn't expecting to be so drained after watching it. Still it was a good movie. I would say check it out if you are in a really good mood or plan to watch something emotionally uplifting afterwards.
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Manchester by the Sea
Posted : 7 years, 2 months ago on 22 February 2017 05:55This is a weird one for me to talk about. Manchester by the Sea strikes all the right poses, hits all of the story beats, but thereās a strange sense of detachment. The characters are submerged by grief, and any development they exhibit is so minor as to wonder if the seeds have been harvested.
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Itās not boring or tedious, and I donāt mind the quaintness of the film, but Manchester by the Sea kept me at a remove at all points. Maybe itās that it takes a very long time to go nowhere in particular. Not paying off as the audience demands is fine and all, but we end with a few of these characters left in the same or highly similar positions that we found them in. And thereās a few too many situations where the symbolism is too neat and tidy, or the dialog is too poetic, and several scenes of Casey Affleck staring off into the middle distance in a bar before picking a fight.
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The slowly thawing winter is a solid metaphor for grief and the ways we can deal with it in, say, a novel, but itās harder to balance it out in a film. Especially one that insists on running for two-and-a-half hours, without enough story to really fill out that demanding running time. Manchester by the Sea is best when it zeroes in on mournful, hard moments of everyday life in the wake of tragedy. Think of an awkward reunion between Lucas Hedgesā Patrick and his alcoholic mother (Gretchen Mol), or the quietly devastating reunion between Affleckās Lee and his ex-wife (Michelle Williams). These moments hammer home with emotional complexity and brutal truths delivered without a bit of sugar to make the bitter go down.
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Much of the film rests on Affleckās Lee becoming the guardian of Hedgesā Patrick after the death of Patrickās father (Kyle Chandler), Leeās brother. But Leeās grief from an accident years earlier that caused him to flee Manchester-by-the-Sea, and dissolved his marriage, keeps him prison and incapable of taking care of anyone, even himself, or making deeper connections with anyone. Patrick, for his part, seems incapable of understanding just how much his life has changed, and will continue to do so. Heās a teen looking for guidance from a man with as much warmth and emotional availability as a glacier.
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Lee and Patrick do have several scenes of comedy to alleviate some of the encroaching despair. Most of it just involves them screaming āfuck youā at each other in harsh New Englander tones, but itās often a nice change of pace. I see why both of them (and Williams) were nominated this year, and, frankly, they deserve it. Hell, if all three of the players manage to sneak out wins they will be richly deserved. Affleck, Hedges, and Williams create fully realized people that are deeply damaged and trying to do their best to keep their heads above water. Manchester by the Sea finds them drowning more often than not, but the film reminds us that healing is not always a zero-sum game.
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A very good movie
Posted : 7 years, 3 months ago on 21 January 2017 10:390 comments, Reply to this entry