Well I always say that I love listening to tortured musicians and watching depressing movies because it’s comforting for me to see and hear people who are more fucked up than I am. But after listening to Radiohead’s latest album and seeing Manchester by the Sea, I think I’m going to take up a similar philosophy in regards to my entertainment as I do my medicine intake, in that I’d rather just be comfortable in my own misery than to pay and witness someone else’s.
Manchester by the Sea is the story Lee Chandler, a low level handyman who lives in Boston. Lee spends the majority of his time getting into random bar fights and generally sulking whenever he has to actually interact with other human beings. He seems to be merely existing rather than actually living, until one day when he gets a call from a Manchester hospital telling him that his brother Joe has died.
He immediately takes off and arrives in the town that he has seemingly forgotten. He and his brother grew up in Manchester and they both wound up having families of their own there. And during their time in this close knit community, Lee formed a special bond with Joe’s son Patrick. The two of them are seemingly inseperable until one day something happens that drives Lee away from the town and into total seclusion in Boston.
Well upon his arrival back in Manchester, he is forced to face his past and at least temporarily deal with family issues as he sets up the funeral arrangements for his brother. And his life is once again completely turned upside down when he finds out that his brother has left him as the sole guardian to his nephew Patrick. So now he’s stuck between actually having to raise his nephew and trying to find someone to dump him off on.
Now if you were like me and you saw the previews for this film, you said to yourself, there is no way in hell I’m wasting two hours of my life on that boring drivel! It looked like the typical lame Oscar bait that always comes out around this time of year. Why can’t action movies ever get Oscar noms? Why is it always the overly sappy tearjerkers that get all the love? Well in the end, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this film. As it turned out, the previews couldn’t give away too much of the plot without taking away the necessary punch that’s used to make this film’s storytelling work.
Now I will say that it is way too long but Kenneth Lonergan is a more than adequate storyteller, so you’re not exactly scrolling through Facebook during points of the movie. The problem however is it’s way too depressing. It’s not quite Precious depressing but damn it’s close! It’s a 135 minute tale of death and coping; and let me tell you that that’s a sure fire recipe for a terrible Friday night! This is probably Casey Affleck’s best effort to date and I find myself liking him even more after finding out that I’m in better physical shape than he is. There’s one scene where he takes his shirt off to have sex with his wife and it reminds you of seeing your uncle after he’s just had a rib plate at the family picnic. Props to that dude for not giving a damn! Michelle Williams, as usual, almost effortlessly steals every scene she’s in, so you can certainly expect her and Affleck to earn Oscar nominations for their roles in this film. There’s one scene with the two of them towards that end that even had me on the verge of tears and I’m as heartless as they come! Damn you Flonase for making me weak!
I strongly suggest you check out this film, just be sure to have one of the best days of your life before doing so. I give it a rating of pretty FRESH!
No comments:
Post a Comment