Tragedy and comedy are, in fact, bedfellows when both are taken very seriously, and rarely is this relationship captured as well as it is in Manchester by the Sea. Writer-director Kenneth Lonergan’s meditation on love, loss and moving on strikes this balance with ease, and it’s a masterpiece in its own right for its emotional depth, stylistic restraint and masterful navigation of a story that might have veered into cloying or mawkish territory in lesser hands.
Manchester by the Sea follows the story of Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck), who comes home to the North Shore of Massachusetts after the sudden death of his brother, Joe (Kyle Chandler), to look after Joe’s teenage son, Patrick (Lucas Hedges). Until then, Lee had been eking out a living as a janitor in Quincy, a suburb south of Boston and about as far away as a person can get from Manchester while remaining in culturally familiar territory. Between getting yelled at by tenants and fixing problems beyond his job description, he also resists friendly advances yet picks fights with strangers. We initially know little about Lee’s story, except that he has suffered a great loss and that the last place in the world he wants to be is back in Manchester, let alone taking custody of a 16-year-old he had no hand in raising.
Manchester by the Sea
R, 137 minutes
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX, Violet Crown Cinema
Lonergan is keenly aware of the link between location and memory, telling much of Lee’s story through flashback when it is most emotionally relevant and not a moment sooner. The names of many Massachusetts towns appear frequently, but not as a play for local credibility. Audiences won’t need a map to make sense of the emotional geography—Quincy is the place Lee went to escape his problems, Essex is the neighboring town that may as well be on another planet for its economic differences. Manchester is the place where no one forgets the past, which is great for Patrick, a hockey star with a local band and two girlfriends, but a nightmare for Lee.
Lonergan also pays very close attention to the ways people react to the things they can and cannot control. When the film opens, we see Lee in a series of situations where he has no choice but to suffer the abuse of his tenants. Later that night, he turns down an obvious advance from a woman in a bar because responding would mean opening up to someone—an unpredictable undertaking—while he has no problem fighting strangers because that situation follows a predetermined pattern. When Lee is given custody of Patrick, his first decision is to bring him back south to live in Boston, thereby uprooting his entire life. Any requests that might make Lee vulnerable are refused, but he has no problem being Patrick’s chauffeur, no matter how inconvenient. And as we learn the truth of why Lee left, we learn the underlying reason for his fear of powerlessness and resistance to leaving anything to chance.
Manchester by the Sea is a thoughtful, intelligent film with excellent performances and characters you will want to spend as much time with as Lonergan allows. It is funny in expected places and is easily one of the best films of the year, if not the decade.
Playing this week
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX
The Shops at Stonefield, 244-3213
Allied, Almost Christmas, Arrival, Doctor Strange, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Hacksaw Ridge, Incarnate, Miss Sloane, Moana, Nocturnal Animals, Office Christmas Party, Trolls
Violet Crown Cinema
200 W. Main St., Downtown Mall, 529-3000
Allied, Arrival, Doctor Strange, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Loving, A Man Called Ove, Moonlight, Moana, Office Christmas Party
