Review of Manchester by the Sea (2016) by Raji K — 12 Mar 2017

Casey Affleck stars in the drama Manchester by the Sea. Affleck is Lee Chandler a janitor that works in Boston. When his brother dies, he returns to Manchester to visit his family. He is set to make up the arrangements for his brother's death. He also finds out he is designated to be the guardian of his nephew.

His nephew wants him to leave Boston and return to Manchester where all of his friends and family are. Lee does not want to return there as he had a terrible incident in where he accidentally let his house catch on fire which caused him to kill his children. Because of this he struggles to become the guardian of his nephew and is conflicted with his past. Lee remains distant, cold and rarely even attempts to connect with others. He resorts to alcohol and violence in his darkest times.

Manchester by the Sea had potential to be a great melodrama and it is clear that many critics found it o be. I found this movie to be too boring and poorly edited. Many scenes in the film seemed pointless or I could not find the reason for them. Most of the film just seems to be Affleck driving his nephew around to various practices, and houses. The movie remains boring and morose throughout. Affleck won best actor for his performance, and I found is performance to be mostly one dimensional. He is constantly somber, and occasionally accompanies that with bursts of rage. About the only thing, I enjoyed in this film was some of the shots of the New England landscape. The film is over two hours and just seems to go on and on, and I was ready for this film to be over.

-3.12.2017.