Manchester by the Sea
Manchester by the Sea
7.896%78%
Lee Chandler is a brooding, irritable loner who works as a handyman for a Boston apartment block. One damp winter day he gets a call summoning him to his hometown, north of the city. His brother's heart has given out suddenly, and he's been named guardian to his 16-year-old nephew. As if losing his only sibling and doubts about raising a teenager weren't enough, his return to the past re-opens an unspeakable tragedy.
Tanalien reviewedJanuary 9, 2025
Manchester By The Sea shows us the center of the story in the opening shots: an uncle, Lee (Casey Affleck), horsing around with his nephew, Patrick (Lucas Hedges), aboard the family’s fishing vessel. It is a glimpse of their being in a different time before they were suddenly gripped by the loss of a brother and a father. The film is about Lee and Patrick’s journey away from trying times.
The cause of this film’s staying power in my psyche is Casey Affleck’s performance as Lee Chandler. Lee looks like a regular guy, except he’s not. The scars that he shoulders are immediately visible. He displays a frequent inability to make eye contact, feels no reason to end unbearably long silences, remains disinterested in hockey, and rejects attempts for others’ caring touch. As we learn, the character we meet has completely devolved from the man he once was. Social norms are not front of mind. The things he used to love do not bring him solace anymore.
Lee is possessed by a nagging sense of guilt for his past actions and a great deal of shame for his hidden notoriety in Manchester. His propensity for drunken bar fights comes from a dark place: a need for all that pain to go somewhere.