Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsManchester by the Sea - Tragically Poignant, Tremendously Played
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2023
This was not my first time to see Manchester by the Sea. I skimmed the 1-star reviews before writing mine. The whole movie I was glued to the screen thinking, well, that it had a lot of swearing (the "F" word), but how well Casey Affleck played his role as a very despondent man who had essentially lost everything that was every really important to him. Save but one, his nephew, Patrick, whom he loved but couldn't bring himself to assume custody after his brother's untimely death.
The movie was dark yet had an ethereal component to it with the background vocal accompaniment, a capella. Like the waves of the water, and life, the voices came and left you as if the tide was ushering in Death out from the sea.
So much weight on his very soul. So much guilt. So much pent-up, painful suffering that, as much as he might have tried to block it out, he couldn't. And he also couldn't release it. So well played. What happens to your heart and mind - the changes when you lose. so. much. And you know it was your fault, even if you didn't mean to do it. I cannot imagine the heavy emptiness he carried every single day of his life. When you don't know what to say, and you can't find the words to explain how you don't know what you're feeling... you simply fill the space with head-banging profanity, over and over again. It's the closest thing you can grasp - to express the pain you cannot reach.
Life-condemning guilt. No price paid, and yet... the ultimate price. The lives you created, the life you had made for yourself or which you had stumbled into, now completely broken. Tragedy upon tragedy. Exponential suffering, eternal shame.
Most poignant scenes (semi-spoilers): when Patrick had gone down for a midnight snack, and all the frozen chicken fell on the floor. Lee losing his focus out the window into the past, then putting his hand through it. His precious daughters waking him near the end asking, "Daddy, do you smell something burning?" Angels watching in the night. Rani asking Lee out for lunch; suffering extended. Patrick's email from his mother's fiance'. So well-written. Incredibly well-played.
I can understand the 1-star ratings for the almost endless cursing. I can understand the dismal feeling many felt. But how is anyone expecting these individuals to go on as if nothing happened? To sweep the multiple tragedies, mind-stricken trauma under any rug - there would be none thick enough to hide the dirt. How can anyone expect someone to live as if they are whole when the very fibers of their Being have been emotionally shredded by a cross-cut saw?
Casey Affleck played this role marvelously, fully-embodied as the man of the hour. Michelle Williams as well - as all of her movies, she steps into the role and becomes that Being, in this case, Randi. A mother "without" until she finds new meaning - or tries. Nothing can change the facts as hard as you might try. That's life. And death.
This is a not an easy movie to watch, and yet it had me fully focused, taking in every breath, following every step, only slightly jumping when Lee put his hand through the window. I was even expecting it.
If you have recently suffered such a tragedy as this, I would issue extreme consideration before viewing it. It might not be the time for you to witness such tragedies so fresh. If you are stuck in your grief, this might pull it out of you, or express it for you, especially if it's deeper. The theme? Dark. The acting? Superb. The language? Heavily jaded, but pointed in pursuit of playing out what should be expected if anything at all.
You'll want your Puffs box for this one. And knowing that Michelle could pull from real life experiences, her depth of emotion, that one is for the books. I felt honored to witness this extended family's multiple tragedies. How they ever pulled out alive at all, that in my very humble opinion, felt nothing short of a miracle. May anyone who has suffered similar tragedies be forever comforted and blessed with dreams of your loved ones waking you in your sleep.