Review of Manchester by the Sea (2016) by Sarun P — 16 Sep 2017

Manchester by the sea centres around Lee Chandler, a sullen janitor who's brother passes away and he is faced with the possibility of being his nephew's guardian while also confronting his dark past.

It's a very slow burn, the first half an hour being a bit of a crawl, and Casey Affleck's character Lee, is hard to like at first but as you learn more about his past, his actions become more understandable and sympathetic.

The dialogue and performances are very realistic and raw with excellent performances from Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams in particular. It's also unlike most Hollywood movies in that it isn't over dramatic in the slightest, all of the performances are very subtle and subdued and that adds to the depths of the characters and the story as a whole.

Sometimes the pacing is a bit too slow, the scenes with the nephew and his two girlfriends seem particularly pointless and take away from the tension of the film. It is an excellent look at grief and a reflection of how real people cope with these kinds of experiences but it is a somewhat forgettable story and not as emotional as it may have intended to be.