Since Manchester By the Sea debuted at Sundance last January, the word emerging from the snowy cinematic celebration was “just give Casey Affleck the Oscar.” Having witnessed the rare drama that can be simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking, the Academy Award is definitely his to lose.
What else is immediately apparent as one makes its way through this gripping poignant tale is that it is easily a top contender for Best Picture.
Affleck plays Lee Chandler, a janitor/maintenance man who handles the inner workings of an apartment building in the Quincy neighborhood of Boston. When he gets word that his brother Joe (Kyle Chandler) has died from heart failure, he races back to his hometown, Manchester By the Sea. As soon as he arrives, we get the feeling that something happened here that not only has kept Lee away from his home, but that the people of this fair seaside village whisper about his mere presence, and thus… he is a bit persona non grata.
Before the grieving can even begin over the loss of his brother, he learns that Joe has named Lee the guardian of his teenage son, Patrick (the incredible Lucas Hedges). The young man’s alcoholic mother Elise (Gretchen Mol) is nowhere to be found and there are little other options for a safe and secure upbringing for Patrick. Lee is stunned. He feels he is seriously ill-equipped to become a father-figure to his nephew and more importantly, there is no chance in hell he will relocate from his Boston home to Manchester By the Sea to raise the teenager whose whole life is in the small town, including a couple of girlfriends, his high school hockey team and all his friends.
Complicating things is the presence of Randi Chandler (Michelle Williams), Lee’s ex-wife. They have an undefined relationship, that spills into some haunting territory over the course of the film as we learn what it is that has kept Lee away for so long from his home.
Manchester By the Sea is written and directed by Kenneth Lonergran and the auteur shows that he is a creative force to be reckoned with. The way Lonergran paces this film; it is like an onion whose layers are slowly peeled away. And just like that vegetable, the deeper one goes into it — the more the tears come flooding out. Don’t get us wrong, this is not one of those dramas that turns its viewers into puddles of teary mess that is so painful one could never revisit it (like a Schindler’s List or Sophie’s Choice).
The film is a masterpiece that must be seen repeatedly. Why?
Because it reaffirms our faith in humanity, family, the emotion called love and the varied forms that it can take. Manchester By the Sea is also uplifting and resolves its many dramatic layers in such a way that one shouldn’t be surprised if their heart grows several sizes (to paraphrase a certain Dr. Seuss holiday treat). But, it also is quite tragic and yet it still manages to use that tragedy in a way that shows how we can rise above the train wrecks life throws at us and live another day, to love another day and most of all — to cherish the aspects of our world that put a smile on our face. It illustrates that the simple things in our lives can prove to be enormous inspirational doses that elevate us top of the human emotional spectrum.
The film does not work without its lead delving into dark and light places that define the landscape that is human existence. Affleck delivers on so many levels and gives a performance that is not only the most powerful of 2016, but one of the most magnetic in recent memory. He has always been an actor who gives us his best and his talent and skill set has slowly but surely increased over the years. This film is his crowning achievement as he goes to places that embody the best and worst of this thing called life.
Williams could easily be on her way to her fourth Oscar nomination. Her Randi is equally as destroyed about her and Lee’s collective past, but hers is expressed notably differently and in a manner that is simultaneously ubiquitous and mesmerizing.
Above all else, Manchester By the Sea gives us hope. And in this day in age, we can use as much of that as possible. No matter the horror we live through, in the end we as a species can always rise above it and triumph for those who need us the most.
Grade: A+