MANCHESTER BY THE SEA is an eagerly awaited film from writer director Kenneth Lonergan, only the third he has directed in sixteen years.
The family drama follows the life of Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) a quiet, down on his luck janitor living in Boston. When Lee’s brother dies, he is forced to move back to his old town of Manchester and become the guardian of his nephew Patrick (Lucas Hedges). We follow Lee’s journey as he tries to come to terms with his brother’s death and handle the responsibility of being a role model for Patrick.
Lonergan provokes intrigue from the beginning, revealing very little about Lee’s back story. However, as the film progresses, details of Lee’s past are steadily fed to us through flashbacks as the story cuts between past and present. These flashbacks, revealing tender moments with Lee and his brother Joe and between him and his ex-wife and children, add an inventive dimension to the narrative, slowly filling in the blanks in the audience’s knowledge without the need for clunky exposition. One emotional flashback reveals a terrible tragedy that changed Lee’s life forever and led him to the situation we see him in at the film’s opening. These insights into Lee’s past are arguably the films greatest asset, portraying the impact that this disaster has had on him and those around him, whilst offering a poignant reminder of relationships lost forever.
Despite the sombre subject matter, Lonergan toes the line between drama and comedy expertly and manages to inject many moments of dry humour. These lighter moments gift the characters with a charm and believability that prevents the film from falling into the common pitfall of being too miserable. The film only occasionally strays into the realm of cliché, as Lee releases his grief and frustration by punching through windows and getting into bar fights in scenes that add little to the films atmosphere. But alongside these infrequent moments of melodrama, Affleck delivers a brilliant performance, replicating the kind of form that saw him Oscar nominated for THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD. Affleck adds credibility to Lee’s actions, delivering a subtle and nuanced performance in a role that could easily have been overplayed.
The film also boasts an impressive supporting cast including Michelle Williams, consistent as ever as Lee’s estranged wife, Kyle Chandler as Lee’s brother Joe, and even a brief appearance from Matthew Broderick. However, among the supporting cast it is Hedges who is the standout, brilliant in his role as the sarcastic young nephew struggling to appear unaffected by the death of his father. Affleck and Hedges strike up a compelling dynamic as uncle and nephew, at times both combative and playful. It is this chemistry that give MANCHESTER BY THE SEA its most charming moments, and provides evidence that Lonergan should put out work more frequently.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsVoD0pTge0