Cast
Casey Affleck as Lee Chandler, a grief-stricken loner
Michelle Williams as Randi, Lee’s former wife, now remarried
Kyle Chandler as Joseph “Joe” Chandler, Lee’s brother
Lucas Hedges as Patrick Chandler, 16-year-old son of Joe and Elise
Ben O’Brien as young Patrick
Gretchen Mol as Elise Chandler, Joe’s former wife
C.J. Wilson as George, the Chandlers’ family friend
Credits
Directed by: Kenneth Lonergan
Produced by: Matt Damon, Kimberly Steward, Chris Moore, Kevin J. Walsh, Lauren Beck
Written by: Kenneth Lonergan
Music by: Lesley Barber
Cinematography: Jody Lee Lipes
Edited by: Jennifer Lame
Production by: K Period Media, B Story, CMP, Pearl Street Films
Distributed by: Roadside Attractions, Amazon Studios
Running time: 137 minutes
Country: United States
Language: English
Rating
Rated “R” for strong language throughout the movie and some sexual content. Parents need to know that this is an intense dark drama dealing with death, grief, acceptance, marital strife, anger and disenchantment.
Synopsis
Manchester by the Sea is the story of a brooding guilt ridden loner janitor Lee, who is suddenly entrusted with the responsibility of taking care of his brothers’ teenage son after the brothers’ untimely death, in a cold winter. This death forces him back to his hometown, Manchester by the Sea, a small beautiful coastal town, with fishing as its main occupation. This is where Lee has to not only deal with the current situation of death and grief, but also his own guilt ridden past. How he deals with the situation forms the crux of this poignant tale. Though this is a dark story dealing with death and grievance, it is interlaced with humour making the characters more humane and allowing the audience to identify themselves with the characters. In one of the very important scene, where Randy is taken into an ambulance, we can see the paramedic fumbling with the stretcher.
With fantastic acting by all the protagonists, a poignant story, amazing cinematography, beautiful locale and haunting background score, this movie is an absolute must watch. It is poetry in motion!
Spoilers ahead
Character Sketches
Lee Chandler:
Lee is the key protagonist of this drama. The entire movie is from his point of view and how he is adapting to the varying circumstances thrown at him. Lee is guilt ridden and shuns himself for what he has done. He is divorced, distances himself from his family (brother) and his hometown and lives a quiet, sullen life as a janitor taking care of four buildings in Boston. The untimely death of his brother Joe brings him back to his hometown and he is forced to face his demons. His past is revealed to us in bits and pieces, like a puzzle, while he is dealing with his present situation. He is a loving husband, doting father but that one unimaginable incident turns his life topsy-turvy. Though he is not experienced as a parent, he tries to do the role entrusted onto him with utmost sincerity, while trying to get rid of the responsibility, at the same time. While Lee does not want the responsibility, he is not willing to hand him over to his alcoholic mother.
Lee’s burden (both physical and emotional), has been beautifully underplayed by Casey Affleck. A few poignant scenes, which absolutely make Casey Affleck deserve the academy award for the best actor, are
- When he comes to the hospital and sees his dead brother in the morgue. He controls his tears and just places an affectionate peck on the dead mans cheek. One can feel the conundrum in his mind, love for his brother in his eyes, though he appears stoic
- At the police station right after his home is burnt down, due to his negligence, where he ask “Is that it? Am I allowed to go now?” Wow! What an amazing scene. As an audience you can see and feel his guilt all over his face and also his disappointment as to why nothing was done to him by the police – why he is let go as deserves to be punished
- Patrick’s (Lees nephew) panic attack. The way he deals with it and how he finally just sits in Patrick’s bedroom quietly just to comfort his nephew. One can see the affection and bonding towards his nephew
- After the fight at the bar and when he is hurt badly, George saves him and brings him to his house where he breaks down in front of George’s wife
- The final scene with Randy where Randy accepts that she was harsh with him, more than what was required and how she repented her decision after all these years. Absolutely wonderful scene as he controls his emotions, just says, “There is nothing there” excuses himself and walks away.
Patrick Chandler:
Nephew of Lee Chandler, he is the typical teen. His father is dead, but he goes on with his life just as is – hockey, band and girlfriends. This character is the antagonist to the main protagonist, Lee. Though the bond between them is established in the very first scene in the boat, as a confused teenager who is forced to live with his uncle as his guardian, he provides ample challenge to Lee. Lee wants to wind up everything in Manchester and move to Boston with Patrick. However, Patrick does not want to move out, as he rightfully says, his life was in Manchester by the Sea. Patrick brings out his turmoil and innocence beautifully.
There are a couple of scenes where Lucas Hedges’ character is given enough meat to showcase his talent.
- The scene when he comes to see his fathers’ body in the morgue. Though he wants to show that he is a man a macho, he is. It able to handle it and just leaves immediately.
- The other one is the scene where he is having a panic attack in the middle of the night where he just crumbles under the situation – he equates the meat in the freezer to his fathers body kept in the freezer (due to the cold weather the land has frozen and they have to wait for the ground to thaw. Ergo, they have to delay the burial of Joe, Patrick’s father). The way Patrick melts down and finally goes to sleep, with the knowledge that his uncle is there to comfort him, to take care of him, would surely melt the audience.
Randy Chandler:
Randy is Lee’s ex-wife and a mother of 3 beautiful kids. Her character is seen in bits and pieces throughout the movie. Her beautiful world is torn apart due to a negligence on Lees part – unimaginable and very powerful – which becomes the reason for their separation. She grieves her loss in her own way, by completely blaming Lee for the incident and getting away from him. Though she is divorced, she is still in good relation with her brother-in-law Joe and his son Patrick and participates in the funeral.
The scene given to her to showcase her acting skill is her final meeting with Lee, where she accepts that she need not have been that harsh with Lee and should not have ruined his life too. Though he has accepted her grief and has moved on in life, she is guilty of ruining Lee. Michelle Williams has emoted the best in this scene.
Joe (Joseph) Chandler:
Brother of Lee and father of Patrick. His presence can be felt throughout the movie. It is his death that brings Lee to Manchester. Joe is a wonderful father and brother. He is also a tolerant husband, who accepts his wife as is. We can see that Joe is very protective of his brother. When the tragedy strikes, he supports his brother both psychologically and financially. When he comes to know of his own irreversible heart condition, he still calmly takes it in his stride and makes calculated arrangements and provisions for his son. As the lawyer says, he makes provisions for the littlest of things, like funds for his brother Lee to relocate to take care of his son. When everyone in that town despises Lee for what he has done (everyone whispers when Lee is around. In one scene, when Lee goes in search of job to one of the traders in town, right after he leaves, the traders wife comes out to say that she doesn’t want Lee in their premises anymore), Joe entrusts him with the responsibility of his son for he sees the strong uncle nephew bond (which runs all along the movie even when Patrick rebels).
Manchester by the Sea:
This town is one of the major characters in this tale, as this is where the story is taking place. It is a small beautiful coastal town, where everyone knows everyone. However, as an audience, there are secrets and demons hiding there, for us to uncover slowly as the movie progress. The director has captured the towns’ beauty, in its full bloom – be it the sea, the frozen lands, the water facing houses, the lonely nights with the moon shining above – everything has been amazingly captured in all detail.
Minor characters:
Elise
Patrick’s mom, an alcoholic, leaves her husband and kid and goes absconding. Though Joe and Lee have not been in touch with her, we do come to know that Patrick has been in touch with her. After Joes death, a changed her, invites Patrick to her house where she is living with her current fiancé, a devout Christian. Though Lee is not in favour of Patrick visiting Elise, he does drive his nephew to his mom’s house in Essex. It certainly is an awkward reunion of mom and son, where Patrick realizes that he is not able to connect with her. After the meeting, Lee contemplates of sending his nephew to his mother, but Patrick receives an email from Elise’s fiancé asking Patrick to contact his mom through him, for her own good. We do not see much of Elise’s character.
George
George is Joe’s business partner and friend. George stands by Lee and Patrick as a pillar of support – right from Joe’s death to the funeral service. Finally, George and his wife adopt Patrick as their son, thereby relieving Lee of his duty as Patrick’s guardian.
Underlying Themes
Grievance:
This is the most important theme of this movie. How each person deals with grief is different. Everyone deals with it in his or her own way. Lee distances himself from everyone. Randy becomes abusive of Lee and doesn’t want Lee with her. Patrick gets more involved with the various things he does and creates distractions for himself. George is not ashamed to cry in public, at the hospital. Though grief is foreboding and when someone you love passes on, life still continues. Everyone learns to deal with grief over a period of time and move on – keeping the memories intact.
Guilt:
Lee is guilty of his act. Immediately after his release from the police station, he tries to grab a revolver from an officers’ holster and shoot himself. He is stopped and saved by others around him. He lives a monotonous boring life, without allowing anyone in his personal space, in a remote location away from his hometown. He is becomes a frequent visitor at the bars. This is his way of dealing with his guilt. Randy on the other hand cries her heart out.
Machismo:
Lee and Patrick, the 2 main male characters try to portray their manliness by being stoic in all situations. They try to hide their feelings when in the company of others. In their private lone moments, they cry out to their deaf pillows. Their sorrow is strikingly shown by the lone moon at the sea or the lone star over their home. This bottling up of emotions has its negative effect on both Lee and Patrick. Lee picks up fights in the bar and is badly hurt in one of the fights where George had to save him. Patrick has a panic attack, where he crumbles. In a way, it tells the audience that it is okay to let go of ones’ emotions.
Forgiveness:
Over time, all characters realize the importance of forgiveness. Things happen in life, but as humans we are to forgive not only others but also ourselves for things that have happened and were out of our control. Randy, Joe and Lee are all able to forgive one another. However, we get a feeling at the end that Lee is not able to forgive himself for his negligent act.
Time is the ultimate healer:
Another theme that is spread across the movie is that fact that time is the ultimate healer of all wounds. It just takes its own course. It is the Love towards our family that helps us in this healing process.
Conclusion
Life is a journey with both happiness and sadness and we are forced into situations sometime created by ourselves and sometimes forced on us. We have to look at things positively and forgive people, particularly the ones we love. Though things cannot be undone in life and lost loved ones brought back, with family and bond of love, we can be happier and sail through this Sea called Life. The movie starts with death and through this misfortune, people rediscover themselves strengthening their bond of love – a simple message Life is Beautiful!
A beautiful poetic movie, worth the Six Oscar nominations and the two award it received – Best Actor for Casey Affleck and Best Original Screenplay for Lonergan!
Highly Recommended
5 / 5