Review of Manchester by the Sea (2016) by Tom M — 03 Feb 2017

Manchester by the Sea, written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan, is a gripping realistic story of the life crushing, sad soul of Lee Chandler. it would be easy to present this sad tale like so many over the top melodramatic tear jerkers. Instead Lonergan allows the story to bring us into the shell of Lee Chandler and the loss that has crushed his spirit.

I was very hesitant to see this movie, but was intrigued by the cast of two of my favorites, Kyle Chandler (Joe), Lee's brother, and Michelle Williams (Randi) his wife (ex). They both seem to capture the spirit of how real world people act with a realism that is easy to believe. In a year of less than stellar acting and movie selections This cast nails it and should be in contention for some post season awards for acting and not Hollywood's politics.

It is rare that you can sense like you are in the same room as the actors. This movie isn't a documentary, no one lives happily ever after, everything doesn't get fixed. Instead we learn, like in real life, it is how you withstand the real pressures, and learn to have people in your life, to help you get through sometimes horrific events.

Lee plays a handy man, often folks that you see walking down any street, the emptiness in his eyes and anger in his heart only seem to get released when he's had one too many and picks out someone to vent his rage in a bar. We've all know someone like this, where life just beats up and gives that unfair amount of grief. It can't be fixed, sometimes there are life events that are so traumatic you never recover. The brilliance is not only in the spot on New England accents, or expressions, It's the relationships, confusion and imperfections of the characters that makes this so real.

Life is awkward when there is loss, discontent, cruelty toward one another It has never been so well captured without the fill in the blanks so many other dramas provide. It is sad, but there are moments of that Boston humor that helps us understand the light that was in these people at one time.

I don't want to spoiler alert, but the one scene toward the end of the movie, when Lee is talking to Randi, who has remarried was one of the best most moving acting scenes I've ever seen.

I would not recommend this for kids, it's a heavy topic, but I have to say this is my pick for Picture of the Year. Go see it, maybe it may help fill some gaps, or provide an insight of how to cope with the unthinkable. It made me realize that life does go on and to appreciate the great moments because that is what you remember most, along with the sad ones. Thumbs way up on this is a great movie.