Manchester by the Sea

Director: Kenneth Lonergran

Cast: Casey Affleck, Lucas Hedges, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler

Kenneth Lonergran just revealed another possible fifty shades of absolute tragedy and grief. Sad films about teenage cancer victims and family car accidents make us cry in the cinema, but Manchester by the Sea is so over the top heart-breaking that one can only sit and stare and painfully swallow until the drama ends and the lights are switched back on.

A heartache for many, but the new original motion picture was a true success for Lonergran. His 2011 drama You Can Count on Me channelled vaguely similar themes of distress and complicated family relationships, but was hardly as ground-breaking as his new triumph. Casey Affleck, the lead, has won an Oscar for Actor in Leading Role and the Golden Globe Award for Best performance by an actor. The film itself won two BAFTA awards and received several Oscar nominations. Kenneth Lonergran may have taken his time to deliver a true masterpiece, but it was well worth the wait.

The star of the show – Casey Affleck – plays an uninspired, unenthusiastic janitor called Lee Chandler. A hilarious sequence of his janitor appointments in the quiet Boston suburb, Quincy, shows that he is more or less incapable of social interaction. He creeps out the audience with his awkward, long-paused responses and his empty, deadly stare. With a phone call announcing his brother Joe’s sudden death, his life changes from dull to dramatic. Lee returns to Manchester, Massachusetts, the city in which – as we learn through frequent flashbacks – he has many dreadful memories that he can no longer avoid. This is a story of a broken man forced to face his dark, traumatic past all over again.

Unlike the typical explosions of tears and screams of mental agony, Lee stays calm and starts organising all the necessary arrangements, as he is now in charge of Joe’s teenage son Patrick. The 16-year-old, played by Lucas Hedges, is a confident hockey player who doesn’t seem to have much time to worry about his father’s death as he is jumping between sports, band practice and his two girlfriends’ bedrooms. The uncle and nephew make a brilliant lead duo. Their chemistry is convincing, fluent and stronger than that of many motion picture romantic couples. Patrick’s selfish, naïve personality and sarcastic humour – “Uncle Lee, are you fundamentally unsound?” – works well with Lee’s nonchalant, quiet but caring character. Their individual takes on depression bounce effortlessly off of each other; it is the two together who keep the viewer engaged.

The windy, forever cold harbour and its suburban, Nordic surroundings bring out the melancholy of the story. In fact, the freezing temperatures delay Joe’s funeral, allowing for more worries and conflict to wind up between the two main “heroes”. The Director of photography, Jody Lee Lipes, did an excellent job at capturing the ‘stillness’ of the town by layering lingering sequences of the static houses and the view of the sea between vivid dramatic scenes. The colour palette, consisting of mostly cool, pale shades of blue and grey, further emphasises the lack of vibrancy and energy of both the city and its bored, judgemental population. The nautical atmosphere brought by the many flashback scenes spent on Joe’s fishing boat slightly imitates Hemingway’s Old man and the sea classic image of peace, solitude and danger.

Manchester by the Sea is a film about jaw-dropping tragedy and broken hearts. The plot’s simplicity brings out the complexity of the traumas the characters are going through. Affleck is truly phenomenal, the set is beautiful in its own, static and symmetrical way, but it is the music that makes the film so powerful. The soundtrack, put together by Lesley Barber, is a mixture of church choirs and classical orchestral melodies which are clean and pure, but absolutely depressing. The slow gothic-like harmonies create a Jane Eyre-like ambience. Barber’s music is like love making to the ears, but pain to the soul.

Endless shots of beautiful, frosty scenery. Music so delicate, yet powerful. Human suffering deepened with every flashback to a traumatic past. Fragile emotions and scarred hearts. Excellent acting. Manchester by the Sea is unlike any other drama or tragedy, as it is the background of the story that horrifies the viewer rather than the plot itself. It is a must-see for everyone with a soul ready to be freed of pretentious love affairs and family conflicts, and perhaps a no-no for the emotionally unstable on the verge of a mental breakdown.