Review of Manchester by the Sea (2016) by Tor M — 01 May 2017

Another big Oscar-awardee with a pretty untouched name as the director. Kenneth Lonergan serves you a film where a man filled with issues from his quite recent past get's a bunch of new responsibities thrown over him. He's not ready for it, he knows it, but he really tries his best. Maybe he is actually so up for it that it makes his life better, but he just can't take the shot or maybe he wanna to try it for a while? There are loads of questions here, slowly being aswered. The story moves very neatly. It's sad, deep and touching. It's fresh, still not that original. It got that delicate drama-feel, that makes you feel with the characters, laugh and cry.

Casey Affleck is doing his best effort to date. It's absolutely brilliant. The way his face, bodylanguage and his ways in general acts out is fantastic. There is so much going on in his head that it shows from miles away but I'm glad we are close to him at most scenes. Hand's down, it's one of the strongest performances I've seen lately. Brilliant supporting actors helps and the smart double story line is making it a film with a lot to digest. That way, two ours plus runns by and I never feel it's to easy even if it uses known tricks. A very solid film and a sure shot for fans of realistic films with people in personal crises.

8 out of 10 boat engines.