Manchester by the Sea

Cast: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Ben O Brian, Kyle Chandler and Stephen Henderson.

Director: Kenneth Lonergan

Release Date: 2016

Running Time: 2hrs 17 minutes

Genre: Drama

Rating: 15

Synopsis:

Lee Chandler, a grumpy handyman is asked to take care of his young nephew, when his father suddenly dies! 

Lee Chandler (Affleck) is a grumpy handyman who fixes anything and everything, he's not liked by his tenants and spends his nights alone in a bar, starting fights and wishing he was picking up girls. When his brother suddenly dies he's named guardian of his young nephew Patrick. It's hard to say how anyone would react after suddenly having that responsibility trust upon them. Kenneth Lonergan has captured such incredible realism in the reactions between characters. Casey Affleck delivers his most phenomenal performance to date. Lonergan has chosen to tell the story through a mixture of past and present sequences to explain the storyline and the characters. The storyline by itself is remarkably emotional and touching.

Lucas Hedges delivers a fantastic performance as Patrick, as a teenager he is seriously struggling to come to terms with the death of his father. Michelle Williams doesn't have a particularly big part however she still plays a very important character in the story. I'm not gonna lie the storyline is very depressing, I know that sounds like a horrible thing to say, but it is what it is. At the end of the day it is a drama. The storyline is realistic, touching and very emotional. Casey Affleck isn't an actor I have seen much of however his performance really is truly incredible. His acting supports his character beautifully. He's angry, upset and having to come to terms with the death of his brother.

At 2hrs 17 minutes, the pace of the film is very slow, not a great deal of stuff happens to be honest. It's about the relationship between an uncle and his nephew and how they deal with something very traumatic between them. Lonergan wanted to make the movie all about the acting, don't go in expecting fancy scenes, great special effects and amazing score. Lonergan wanted to tell an emotional story and believe me, he really did! The story will really pull on your heartstrings, especially if you have recently lost someone.

Mainly set around Boston and Manchester Massachusetts, cinematographer Jody Lee Lipes has captured the area beautifully, it has a very real feel to it. The production design has a very real feel to it, the lighting is very dark and dim, it adds to the tone of the film perfectly, it coincides with the storyline brilliantly. The shots that are used are very nice, although I do feel like the editing between scenes is too choppy, almost cutting actors off during scenes, it's hard to say whether this is intentional to dramatize the scene, or whether it's actually poor editing.  This is a very emotional film, it's incredibly realistic. The score is beautiful and gentle and progresses with the film beautifully. It's everything you'd expect from a drama and so much more! It's no surprise it's up for Oscars. It's easily one of the best films of 2016!

I love how the relationship between Lee and Patrick progresses, I love how natural and real it is. If you enjoy Drama's I cannot highly recommend this enough! Casey Affleck took me completely by surprise. Wow. Beautiful and touching.

5/5 stars