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This is a film with so many "ordinary" moments that it ultimately proves "extraordinary" in its use of understatement to awaken viewers to a heightened awareness of their own mortality and to the power of "art" (in this case, cinematic art) to shine a light on the darkest corners of a world-in-flux. Like the films of the ultra nuanced, minimalist French filmmaker, Robert Bresson, "Manchester" manages to "mute" its most horrific scenes, reducing each visual impression--through the brevity of a shot, the avoidance of close-ups, the use of formal, stately music--to the same "scale," or level of importance, as the film's more mundane scenes and routine actions. Like the world of nature--in which creation and destruction, energy and entropy co-exist, inseparably and “undramatically”—the events in “Manchester By the Sea” unfold with the random and cruel necessity of natural process.
The closest we get to an action like the conventional "climax" of most well-plotted stories is a brief encounter late in the movie between Lee (Casey Affleck) and ex-spouse Randi (Michelle Williams). Although remarried and pregnant, she not only forgives Lee the death of their three children but insists she still loves him! Immediately the fire is doused by Lee, who can only say "there's nothing there" and walk away. Similarly, Lee seems incredulous that, after going to the police station and testifying to his role as the drug and alcohol-affected agent of his own 3 children's deaths, he is simply told he can go. He has not committed anything criminal; he's not even accountable. Thereupon, his diminishment to "nothingness" falls just short of completion when his attempt at suicide is prevented by the police who quickly disarm him. Subsequently, each of his violent eruptions against those he meets up with is at once an expression of his paranoia towards others (even complete strangers!) who judge him as he judges himself and an existential plea for recognition of himself as a human being in danger of disappearing from the human community if not the face of the earth.
The most unusual moment for this viewer came during a short scene in the last 10 minutes of the film. Lee is seated at a kitchen table, with his friend George in the middle and George's wife at the other end. It's a strangely comforting scene, since Lee appears almost "at home" in Manchester prior to relocating. But it's a moment of silence--one that is apparently resisted even by the filmic, or digital, medium responsible for telling Lee's story. At the end of the scene, my wife asked: "Did you see that?" "What?" I askedI "The caption!" I backed up the film, and saw these words at the bottom of the screen: "It seems there should be some dialog during this scene." Was this included by the filmmakers? Was it due to the automatic voice recognition encoded in the film for the purpose of translating speech to written dialog? Was it one of those decisions automatically made by Amazon's Alexa? (She's in the same room as the TV set.) I don't recall ever seeing anything like a caption which, during a protracted silence, appeared to become a critic rather than a describer or translator.
Regardless of the source, the quirky caption prompted me to answer back: "No! It does NOT seem there should be talking during this scene! Dialogue would be inappropriate in a cinematic story that "shows" an individual's struggle for significance--for his very identity--in a world that at every turn denies it." It’s in the absence of dialogue that Lee Chandler--a tragic hero with the bold and deliberative initiative of his archetypal forerunner, Oedipus Rex--proceeds to assert courage and decisive action in the face of unspeakable tragedy. He says about his relation to Manchester, "I can't beat it. I can't beat it." But then he goes on to demonstrate that he won't let it beat HIM. He has found a new place of residence (Boston). Moreover, he's taken care of every detail, signed every dotted line, worked out terms to assure his nephew Lucas that he may remain in Manchester, interacting with his old friends, inheriting his father's fishing boat (with a new motor) and, if he chooses, come to Boston to visit Uncle Lee (who has taken pains to find an apartment with a guest room for that purpose).
This is as good as it gets--at least in in the world of “Manchester-By-The-Sea,” and perhaps in the "real" world. At the end, Lee meets a Manchester citizen who relates that one day his still-young fisherman-father, like Lee's brother, went out fishing--and this father never came back. Life at Manchester is not cut and dry, black and white, secure or even safe. It's a challenge, a character-building experience, but it's also a setting for developing relationships that are genuine. For Lee, Manchester was the setting of a young and careless father's unspeakable loss, his spiritual growth, and his acceptance of the role of father to a teenaged boy who, like Lee, must face the rough vicissitudes of the sea and of life. Unlike Lee, Lucas will test the waters of life under the protective but respectful and expansive wings of a surrogate father. The closing shot of the pair fishing together speaks volumes which--thanks to the resourceful directing, minimalist writing (including musical scoring), and lasting resonance of Casey Affleck's understated performance--need not be spoken.
How many of us would give anything to spend a few hours fishing for pan-sized bluegills or perch with an absent father or grown son? It's a hole we may not be able to fill; an ache that may not be easily assuaged. The film theorist who defined movies as "the redemption of physical reality" could not have found stronger support for his idea than this final shot of "Manchester By The Sea."
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A moving case study in grief/depression
One of 2016's acting powerhouses has arrived on Blu-ray one week before the Academy Awards, where it has been nominated for six awards including Best Picture. Manchester By The Sea is the story about Lee (Casey Affleck) trying to put his life back together after tragedy strikes his family. Recently divorced from his wife (Michelle Williams), Lee must also deal with his brother's death and subsequent custody arrangements for his angsty nephew (Lucas Hedges). The story is told mostly through abrupt, fragmented flashbacks that unravel to explain Lee's morose state of mind. I consider the film a spiritual successor to another Academy favorite, Ordinary People (1980), both in terms of tone and treatment of subject matter. The film deals mainly with different facets of grief, all embodied in the wonderful performances by Affleck, Hedges, and Williams.The Blu-ray itself services the film nicely. The picture quality does justice to the film's chilly, winter settings and dark, dingy interiors. Outdoor scenery gets the greatest benefit from sharpness and detail, such as long shots on the Chandler family boat. The sound is DTS-HD 5.1, and although mainly a front-loaded, dialogue-based film, there are some moments of subtle surround use in scenes with environmental sound. The scenes making use of Baroque-era music get the most mileage out of the rear channels. Overall quality is clear. No other language options are available, other than English. Subtitles include English SDH and Spanish.Extras include a commentary track by writer/director Kenneth Lonergan (oddly titled "A Conversation with..." instead), three deleted scenes that aren't very remarkable, and a fluffy making-of featurette called "Emotional Lives." Most interesting about the last extra is how painfully obvious it is that the interviews were conducted at different times, due to the constantly-changing length of Casey Affleck's hair and beard, presumably for his next film role. Rounding out the extras are a standard-definition DVD copy that duplicates all the extra content, and an Ultraviolet digital copy.Although the extras department could have been a little more substantial, this is a fine film, and one of 2016's best, in my opinion. I wouldn't be surprised if Criterion picked it up for a special edition, sometime in the near future.
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2017
- Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2023
Top reviews from other countries
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Cliente de AmazonReviewed in Mexico on July 15, 2017
Fantástica edición importada
Envío: Producto llego a tiempo, en buenas condiciones, cerrado, sin imperfecciones en el empaque.Cliente de AmazonFantástica edición importada
Reviewed in Mexico on July 15, 2017
Contenido: El producto viene con su slipcover, incluye dos discos: un bluray y un dvd, además de una copia digital solo utilizable en USA. Caja clásica de bluray, diseño muy bonito.
Película: Un drama bastante crudo, digno de todos los premios con actuaciones magníficas. Joya de guión.
Los invito a hacer sus reseñas así para poder facilitar a otros compradores las características de los productos.
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Antoninf1950Reviewed in Spain on July 18, 2017
Gran cine que capta con hondura una muy dura experiencia humana
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indomito plutoReviewed in Italy on July 18, 2024
Grande film indipendente americano
