Manchester by the Sea

Manchester by the Sea

A better name for this movie would be Misery by the Sea. This movie is so depressing it could be an ad for Prozac. I fell for the Art House mystic. Rotten Tomato’s gave the film a 97 rating, the banter on in the press was effusive and I went to Times Talk to hear Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams and the director Kenneth Lonergan extol the film.  One thing I did not do was read reviews or had any idea about the plot.

There are two main story lines. Affleck has been told he is the legal guardian of his nephew, played by Lucas Hedges, after his brother died and a tragic incident in the past ending his marriage to Michelle William’s character and driving him into numbing despair. Affleck’s approach to his character is low keyed almost monotoned. The only time he breaks out of his funk is to have a bar fight. Even when he rises above the fray his passion is subdued. It is even keeled numbness.

Affleck was surprised to be his nephew’s guardian. He does not want the responsibility nor does he want to return to Manchester. For his part the Hedges, the nephew, does not want to be looked after by his uncle or leave Manchester. Hedges coping mechanism after the death of his father is to try to get into the pants of his girlfriend (he has two of them). Affleck’s relationship with his nephew is raucous. They achieve a tentative truce and manage to be with each other.

Michelle Williams is Affleck’s ex-wife. She delivers an excellent performance and shows a range of emotions that frames the film. Whereas Affleck stymied his life, she has moved on, grew and started a new family. She has empathy for Affleck but he shuts her out.  A light moment in the movie was when she uttered of the “F” word in an effected Boston accent.

Flash backs are used to reveal the terrible past and how relationships crumbled. The flashbacks were done well. I though the tragic incident was a bit contrived. What made this picture so depressing was bad situations were mainly unchanged. There was no redemption. Sadness was not resolved, it just got old. It did not seem right to pay $12.00 for a depressing movie ticket when I can get all the depressing news for free.