Guilt is the type of feeling that can eat a person alive, especially when the basis for that guilt is the death of loved ones. Running away from it can only do so much, but if that guilt is powerful enough, there isn’t a thing that can be done to fully alleviate it. But sometimes running away is all you can do, even if all it accomplishes is slapping a Band-Aid onto a gushing wound. Sometimes the people around you won’t let you even try to heal. Running away can become the only option.
Manchester by the Sea is about the strongest form of grief a person can face: knowing that actions, or a lack of actions, led to the loss life. Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck), during an evening of raucous drinking, forgot to put the screen in front of the fireplace at home before going out with his friends. This led to a house fire that killed his children and burned his wife. While no criminal charges were filed against him, not everyone in the area believed the fire was accidental. He left his home in Manchester-by-the-Sea (also known simply as Manchester) and moved to Quincy to escape the memories and the accusations, taking up a low-paying janitorial job while battling depression and becoming an asocial mess.
One day he receives a phone call informing him that his brother Joe, a fisherman in Manchester, has suffered cardiac arrest. By the time Lee arrives at the hospital, Joe has died. When Lee meets with Joe’s attorney, he is shocked to discover that Joe has named him as the legal guardian of his teenaged son, Patrick (Lucas Hedges). Lee and Patrick had a good relationship years before, but after the fire, Lee moved away and has had little contact with the boy. Now, Lee has to try and pull himself together and be a parent again, navigating the trappings of teenager life, including sports, Patrick’s hilariously crappy rock band, and Patrick’s active sex life. He feels inadequate for the responsibility, of course, but he also feels he cannot stay in Manchester because it is just too painful for him there, especially since many of the locals still blame him for the deaths. This last point becomes an area of tension between the two because all of Patrick’s life is here, and he cannot understand why Lee cannot just find work here, allowing him to stay.
I have heard this film described as the funniest sad movie ever made. That is an apt reaction to this film. There are some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments at play. Every time we see Patrick and one of his girlfriends (he has two) fooling around in her room, it is genuinely funny. Adding to that is their feeble attempts to pass off what they are doing as studying. The mother of one, not fooled in the slightest, says to Lee, “At least we know where they are.” This type of humor feels real-world and relatable, even to those of us who refrained from these kinds of situations. Virtually every teenager has lied about something to their parents and believed that they didn’t see right through those lies.
Those moments are also surrounded by some seriously powerful emotional beats. Because of the time of year Joe died, he cannot be buried right away. The ground is frozen and cannot be dug up until the spring so Joe has to be kept frozen at the mortuary until the ground thaws. This reality affects Patrick strongly, and one day he is trying to put some frozen chicken back in the freezer and has a panic attack. Lee tries to calm him down, but there really isn’t a good way to do that. Sometimes the only thing you can do is step back and let it run its course. This is a sobering moment, punctuated by a shot of Patrick sleeping while Lee sits back just watching him, just in case he wakes up in a panic again.
It was a smart move by director Kenneth Lonergan to tell this story out of chronological order. This allows us to learn all of the backstory a bit at a time as we are getting to know the characters. There are also whole moments where interactions take place entirely in the background, the words obscured by distance, but the message is spelled out perfectly by the body language. The editing is often quick-paced but can also linger when it needs to, allowing conversations and revelations to run just as long as they need to. The most emotional of these happens late in the film between Lee and his ex-wife, Randi (Michelle Williams). Much is revealed in that conversation, including how harsh she was to him during the divorce proceedings. She wants to reconnect and doesn’t want him to “just die.” The emotion in this moment is so overwhelming that he has to leave lest he break down. Michelle Williams has very little screen time, yet she is so good that she rightfully got an Oscar nomination for it. This whole scene between the two of them is gut-wrenching and gives us some true insight into why Lee has been unable to move on and heal.
Casey Affleck was once considered the type of actor that only works in an ensemble picture. Here he is proving that he is more than capable of carrying a picture on his shoulders. It would be so easy for him to be so down and depressing that we lose interest in watching his story. During the first third of the movie, it almost gets to that point; so much of that part of the film is him being caustic and anti-social. Once we learn about the fire and see his initial attempt to kill himself, we understand exactly why he is so shut down. It is easier to wall up all emotions and stop caring than it is to allow all of that guilt to come forward. Yet it is not possible to completely purge those feelings, and that is one of the primary reasons he spends so much time in bars drinking and brawling with the other patrons. Casey dances so close to the edge of being unlikable, but like the professional that he is, he gives us enough humanity to keep us with him. He works well with Lucas Hedges, too, as the two work through their emotions together.
Manchester by the Sea is a hard movie to watch at times. The emotions are so raw that it is impossible to watch it without feeling the pain and sadness that Lee does. The film doesn’t wrap these things up in an artificial happy ending, either; it’s far too honest to go that route. Because of that, some people will not like the ending. But this film would be unsatisfying if it tried to pander to those kinds of expectations. Instead, it goes the braver route and just ends without the resolutions. We don’t leave this film knowing for certain if Lee will ever be able to get over his feelings of guilt. This movie is so well made that the only way I could see myself watching it again is with someone who has not seen it before so I could experience it vicariously through their experience. For me, like The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, it is so well made, but I don’t want to put myself emotionally through it alone.
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Picture: Lauren Beck, Matt Damon, Chris Moore, Kimberly Steward, and Kevin J. Walsh
Best Director: Kenneth Lonergan
Best Actor: Casey Affleck (won)
Best Supporting Actor: Lucas Hedges
Best Supporting Actress: Michelle Williams
Best Original Screenplay: Kenneth Lonergan (won)
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Release Date: December 16, 2016
Running Time: 137 Minutes
Rated R
Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, and Lucas Hedges
Directed By: Kenneth Lonergan
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