https://www.instagram.com/p/BOP632SDt8M/?taken-by=mbtsthemovie
Grief. It’s something we’ve all experienced, albeit to varying degrees and under varying circumstances. It’s also the subject of renowned playwright Kenneth Lonergan’s latest film, “Manchester by the Sea.”
As I write, I am still shaken by Casey Affleck’s momentous portrayal of tortured janitor Lee Chandler. At the onset of the film, Chandler is called home from his humble Boston life in the middle of shoveling snow by the tragic news of his brother Joe’s death. It’s a beautiful sequence: we watch the repetitive monotony of Chandler’s daily life as he deals with clogged toilets and rude tenants. Then, as they often do, a phone call changes everything. Suddenly Chandler is at the hospital in his hometown, then the morgue, then the funeral home, all the while dragging along his newly orphaned teenage nephew, Patrick.
Patrick is played with depth and realism by Lucas Hedges, of “Moonrise Kingdom” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel” fame. Generating his own Oscar buzz alongside co-stars Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams, Hedges conveys the angst, confusion, and all-around emotional displacement of Patrick Chandler with a precision beyond his years.
Speaking of Williams, not once have I seen a better performance from our favorite “Dawson’s Creek” alumnus. She plays Lee’s estranged ex-wife whom he must confront when he returns to his small fishing town. Their relationship is underpinned by an unspeakable tragedy, the pent-up emotion of which radiates through both her and Affleck’s eyes. When it is revealed about halfway through the film, you could hear a pin drop in the theatre.
This tragedy is the crux of Lonergan’s exploration of grief and guilt. How do we live normally after the fact? Can we? The setting of Manchester is somehow equally as important to the film as the bravado of its actors. Manchester is a quintessential New England town, dusted by snow and nestled on the water. The small town haunts Lee Chandler like a specter, his tragic past bubbling up in every crack of his voice.
The most powerful scene is one of the simplest. New England winters are so cold that the ground is impenetrable, and thus burials must be postponed and bodies frozen temporarily. Lee is bothered by this but accepts it, while his nephew Patrick is severely disturbed by the fact that his father’s body will be in a freezer for several months. One night, Patrick goes to the fridge for dinner, and frozen meats fall out on the floor and he struggles to get them back in. He is overcome with emotion and starts shaking, crying and gripping his head. Lee tries to comfort him, but the boy is inconsolable, so Lee simply pulls up a chair next to his bed and sits there. No words, no hugs, just the solemn silence of a father figure who doesn’t know what to say. Many of us have experienced this awkward stoicism, when the pressures of masculinity make the men in our lives seemingly emotionally illiterate. Affleck captures that moment. His performance is absolutely transcendent.
I am usually rather impartial come the Academy Awards, but not this year. If Affleck doesn’t win Best Actor, watch Twitter for #NotMyBestActor, as I’m liable to get it trending.
On a serious note, go see this movie.
Go alone, like I did, and during the day if you can. All too often do we drift through our collegiate lives in a neurotic haze, but “Manchester by the Sea” will jar you out of it and gently return you, but not without first reminding you of your humanity by immersing you in impossible suffering for two hours. Bring tissues.
A+
