Manchester By The Sea (February 2017)

Official Australian release date: 2/2/17. Viewed: 3/2/17.

Director: Kenneth Lonergan

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

Genre: Drama

Rating: M

‘Manchester by the Sea’ (a town one hour north-east of Boston) is the setting and title for this film that’s nominated for multiple Oscars, based around a man dealing with grief. Lee (Affleck) is a guy just trying to get by, working as a janitor, when he finds out his brother, Joe (Chandler) has died of a heart attack. He has to drive up to Manchester and try to figure out what to do with his 16-year-old nephew, Patrick (Hedges).

There’s not much backstory as to why Lee is separated from his ex-wife, Randi (Williams), but this, as well as some history of Lee and Joe together, is sporadically filled in throughout the film. The big reveal explains why people look at/whisper about Lee and the very heavy burden he’s carrying. Affleck is great, softly-spoken, but with so much hurt in his eyes – it’s easy to see why he’s nominated for Best Actor. Hedges is as good as the teenaged son, grieving for his dad, but continuing on with life as best he can, including playing ice hockey, band practice and trying to date two girls, while trying to understand and help his uncle.

There’s a decent support cast – Joe’s friend George (Wilson), the coach (Donovan), Patrick’s girlfriend Sandy (Baryshnikov) & her mum Jill (Burns) – but it’s really up to Affleck, Hedges and Williams to do all the heavy lifting. It’s certainly not a fun or exciting film, but it is engrossing, as you learn more about the characters and some of the heartbreak they’ve all endured. It’s a little long, with lots of slow and quiet parts, “endure” is an apt description for what the characters have to do.

Overall: Well-made character-driven drama.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.