Manchester By The Sea (2016): Sorrowful and Beautiful

Manchester By The Sea is a character-driven domestic drama . It’s the story of a man, unrecovered from a past tragedy, who, in the face of a current one, must come to terms with himself. The film features a very strong performance by Casey Affleck (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford [2007]) as Lee Chandler, the central character – among a host of excellent performances, most particularly that of Michelle Williams as Lee’s ex-wife and newcomer Lucas Hedges as his nephew. I initially saw this movie at the Vancouver Int’l Film Festival in mid-October, not having any expectations nor hardly any information about it at all. A very nice surprise. I went and saw it again a week ago, and loved it even more.

What follows is a bit lengthy, so I’ll tend to the bottom line first: This is a tight, touching jewel of a picture that you should seek out. One of the best pictures of the year.

A good way to approach Manchester By The Sea may be to start with some commentary by its writer and director Kenneth Lonergan (from an excellent profile by Rebeccah Mead in the November 11, 2016 issue of The New Yorker). “I have seen a lot of movies - and they are really great movies – about people who come back from really bad things and are redeemed. And in real life, people do it all the time,” he said. “[But] some people don’t come back. I don’t see how you come back from some things. I don’t see how some people get through what they get through.”

Lee Chandler is a guy in his late thirties or maybe early forties. He is one of those who did not come back: approximately eight years ago, he experienced a devastating loss from which he has never recovered. As we learn in flashbacks, he once had a pretty decent life – living in his eponymous home town with a wife, kids, a house, lots of lifelong friends, a decent job, and all that. But now that’s all gone - he’s broken, and he knows it. We apprehend this early on when we first meet Lee, before we know the whole story.

As the movie opens, it’s a cold, gray day in Boston, and we see him, impassive, shoveling the frozen snow from the walk outside his tiny basement room – a scene repeated several times. Lee works as a maintenance man servicing four apartment buildings – fixing leaky faucets, plunging blocked toilets and the like - in exchange for the minimum wage and that basement room. He is engaged with these tasks; they keep him busy and allow him not to think too much. He is neat. He is competent. He’s reticent and reserved with the tenants he works for.

As a rule, Lee does not engage with people beyond what the situation minimally requires. He keeps to himself. He’s a good looking guy but has no romantic partner and, in fact, no friends at all - spending most of his evenings alone, watching sports on a small TV in his little room. Occasionally, he’ll go to a bar and drink, alone; and once in a while, if he drinks too much, he may get into a fight. It’s a dreary existence, intentionally so; a life of abnegation.

Then Lee’s brother Joe (Kyle Chandler) dies and Lee’s solitary, sequestered life perforce changes.  Lee had been very close with his brother, and despite his years of emotional asceticism, Joe’s death cuts deep. For years, Lee has avoided human relationships, and thus any responsibility to or for others.  Now he is responsible for making all the post-mortem arrangements. A greater challenge comes with a revelation in Joe’s will: Lee has been designated to be the guardian of Joe’s son, sixteen year old Patrick. Patrick and Lee had been about as close as an uncle and nephew can be. But that was before Lee moved away from Manchester and walled himself off, not now. Now Lee is dumbfounded.

“I can’t!”  Lee tells the lawyer. Still, for the time being he has to try - for Joe’s sake and for Patrick’s sake. Besides, there’s really no one else.

Lee’s story unfolds within the frame of these current circumstances, with the backstory – of his marriage and family, his tight bonds with Joe and the young Patrick, his life before disaster struck, and of course, just what happened to cause that former life to crumble –  told in flashbacks as Lee’s remembrances. Over time, we come to understand this man’s torment, and why the choices facing him now are so difficult for him.

The mood of the story is set by some lovely, occasionally claustrophobic photography by cinematographer Jody Lee Lipes (Martha Marcy May Marleen [2011]), which ties Lee’s story to a place – the titular blue-collar Massachusetts seaside village, where it is seemingly always winter - capturing the frostbitten, painful contours of Lee’s soul. The drama and the mood is heightened by a sometimes subtle, sometimes powerfully emotive, musical soundtrack by Leslie Barber (whose credits include Lonergan’s first film: the appealing, melancholy You Can Count On Me [2000]).  Throw in some lovely, sorrowful pieces by Tomaso Albinoni and Jules Massenet, and one could become misty without even watching the picture!

Most of all, however, Manchester By The Sea succeeds because of two things: the vision of writer-director Lonergan, and bravura performances by his principal actors.   Lonergan’s smart, penetrating screenplay is spare yet deeply evocative. An acclaimed playwright, he is a master of scene construction, nuanced character development and soul-revealing dialogue. As a writer, he knows how to distill the psychology of characters into what they say (and don’t say). There’s nothing phony about Lonergan’s people. They sound real, using everyday language, sometimes hesitating, sometimes struggling to say anything at all, occasionally interrupting one another, yet always, it seems, speaking from the heart. It isn’t always pretty, but it feels authentic.

I can’t say enough about the actors, and especially Casey Affleck, absolutely outstanding as Lee Chandler. That this character is unusually taciturn only makes Affleck’s achievement more remarkable. Casey has a darker look than his brother Ben and, without seemingly doing a whole lot, his acting is much more expressive.  There are also his exceptionally deep, piercing blue eyes, which, while not always focused on those with whom he is conversing, are always intense. Although his Lee's mien may seem stony, Affleck manages to convey the volcanic, painful emotions roiling inside. We see Lee as a man struggling to contain an inner terror – not so much to hide his feelings from others, but out of fear that if the lid comes off, he’ll explode.

Lee’s psyche and how he deals with the proposed guardianship of Patrick are the cornerstones of the drama. Absent a believable relationship between Uncle Lee and Patrick, this wouldn't work. Thanks to a strong performance by Hedges as Patrick, it does. Lee temporarily moves into Joe’s home with Patrick until things get sorted out. Patrick needs emotional support which Lee is ill equipped to give. But the teenager has other connections that help - he’s on a sports team, he’s in a band, he’s got a coterie of high school mates, and a girlfriend or two. He needs a parental figure too, but it’s a struggle to connect with his uncle. There’s also friction about future arrangements: where he’ll live and such. Although smart and more emotionally grounded than Lee, Patrick, at sixteen, is age-appropiately immature and inexperienced. Still, he can give as good as he gets in an argument - and there are some juicy ones. Patrick and Lee’s odd couple relationship is good for laughs as well as turmoil. Laughs are good. Otherwise, Lee's story would be almost too much to bear.

Through all this both men begin to change. It's subtle and offers a glimmer of hope. Don’t expect a typical Hollywood ending, however. That’s not how Lonergan does things.

Also praiseworthy is Michelle Williams, in a limited but crucial role as Lee’s ex-wife, Randi.  Randi is a direct tie into Lee’s past and into his pain. Perhaps the most memorable scene in Manchester By The Sea, and its emotional turning point, occurs towards the end of the film when Lee and Randi accidentally meet in town. She wants to talk about what happened, wants to apologize for her part, wants to connect with Lee on some level, and he tries, he really tries. It’s an excruciating, sweetly painful moment that, even now, brings a catch in my throat to recall. Williams’ fervent performance makes it work.  

In sum, Manchester By The Sea is a rare dramatic treat. There’s not a false note in the picture. Although it’s still only in limited release, expect to hear more and more about it as we head into the January awards season. Seek it out.

Manchester By The Sea has been in limited release since mid-November, but after three weeks is now expanding to more screens in more cities. If it’s not in your area, keep a look out.