Movie Review: Manchester by the Sea

4.5 stars out of 5

Writer/director Kenneth Lonergan doesn’t exactly churn out movies. He’s made three since 2000: the flat-out wonderful You Can Count on Me, the harrowing but brilliant Margaret (also answer to the trivia question, “What movie was Jack watching when Superstorm Sandy knocked the power out?”), and, released in the fall, Manchester by the Sea. The hyper-talented son-of-a-gun is now 3 for 3.

If you’re vaguely familiar with this movie, then you’ve likely heard that it’s really, really sad. It’s almost like Lonergan was thinking, “Margaret was a complete downer… so how could I top that?” We meet intense sourpuss Lee Chandler, played by intense sourpuss Casey Affleck. Lee is a competent but unhappy apartment-complex janitor in Boston. (What? An Affleck brother in a movie set in Massachusetts?) Then, to really boost his spirits, his brother Joe dies. In flashbacks — and on a slab in the morgue — the always great Kyle Chandler plays Joe. Chandler packed on some pounds to more realistically portray a character with congestive heart failure. Maybe to make it up to him for being such a good sport, Lonergan lets Kyle keep his own last name.

Anyhoo… Lee heads up to — drum roll please — Manchester-by-the-Sea (if behind-the-scenes tales from Margaret are any indication, Lonergan probably spent four years arguing with the movie studio whether or not there should be hyphens in the movie title) to attend to his brother’s affairs. He’s surprised to learn that one of these tasks is accepting custody of Joe’s 16-year-old son Patrick. Sure, Lee loves the kid, but Lee is a brooding janitor living in a basement apartment. How is this going to work?

Now, a lesser filmmaker might take this scenario and turn it into a sweet mismatched-buddy-flick comedy. But Lonergan has much, much more up his sleeve. Echoing Thomas Wolfe, it’s incredibly difficult for Lee to go home to Manchester. The past comes back to haunt him in a big way, from every corner. As his backstory slowly unravels, we come to understand why Lee is such a sullen fellow.

The performances are uniformly superb, with Oscar nominations well deserved. Affleck (best actor) earns our sympathy as well as our frustration. Lucas Hedges (supporting actor) as Patrick perfectly captures the fragility of a good-guy teenager with a little too much on his plate. And Michelle Williams (supporting actress), as Lee’s ex-wife, turns in an emotionally charged portrayal of a person trying to move forward but held back by searing guilt.

Everybody in this story is pretty tightly wound. In another movie, we’d wait for them to explode in the Big Important Scene. Not so in Manchester by the Sea. It’s an incredibly realistic collection of moments, snapshots, of real life, achingly on display. The cinematography and soundtrack (though a little musically over-the-top in one scene) help reinforce the downbeat tone. Thankfully, there are also glimmers of light and hope. Overall, the message seems to be that though closure is difficult to actually reach, the journey is still worthwhile.