Review of Manchester by the Sea (2016) by Chiek E — 23 Jun 2017

Unfortunately for Ryan Gosling, Casey Affleck would steal the thunder with his defining performance as the tragedy and guilt stricken Lee and hence won the Oscars. Not since Doubt has another film with tour de force acting gripped my attention so fiercely and unrelentingly.

Using flash backs, the director Lonergan brilliantly filled us audience in on the background of Lee and the tragedy that shaped his character. Casey had the lion share of the 135 minutes movie since the focus was on him.

But the supporting cast gave stellar performances such as the beautiful Michelle Williams to treat us to an ensemble performance. It is a long movie but never felt draggy. The director never shot a scene longer than it should which means that the director really packed many many scenes in, making editing work all the more difficult and time consuming.

But the end result is a masterpiece. Manchester by the Sea is beautiful and unforgettable and Casey is under radar of many now. But in fairness to Ryan Gosling, its a much more difficult role to play the jazz pianist, the tap dancer and the crooner.

Gosling could play Lee, but Affleck will be hopeless playing the jazz pianist. The Oscars, unfortunately, always favour the serious genre over musicals or comedy. So I think the Golden Globes did the right thing of having two separate categories for acting.

Comedy/ musicals & serious dramas.