The reluctant curmudgeon is one of the standard action film saws. You know, some chiseled fossil haunted by his past and generally unwilling to help preserve the future – that is until he realizes there’s a chance at redemption. It’s a role you always imagine for Harrison Ford or Nick Nolte. Ok, but what if there is no action film? What if there is no call upon a scarred veteran to save humanity? And what if there is neither redemption, nor the desire for redemption? What do you do with this guy?
Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) has given up. Life broke him beyond repair. We aren’t quite sure what keeps him from suicide. There is no attempt at pleasure in his world; the closest he comes to normality is his apathetic custodial work or the bar fights he solicits on a regular basis. And then his brother, Joe Chandler (Kyle Chandler – why didn’t you just name the character “Kyle?”) dies. Joe had a heart condition, so this doesn’t surprise anyone, but it does require Lee to return to Manchester by the Sea, the source of all his pain.
“Hey, I see you have a big scab there. Well let’s just rip that off, shall we? Oooo, I bet that hurt. Hey, that exposed flesh isn’t gonna salt itself. Let me just help you out with that. No, we’ll go with the big vial.”
Especially poignant in Lee’s homeward return is the relationship with his now orphaned 16-year-old nephew, Patrick (Lucas Hedges), who is less-than-pleased with just about everything except his multiple girlfriends. Go, playah!
Speaking of which, for teenagers, this must be something close to a dream film, huh? It’s about a guy who has to live with his ghosts and is personally handed the invitation to move in with them by his well-meaning-but-deceased brother. He doesn’t talk 
much or do much or even cry; he’s just as uncomfortable amidst his screen milieu as you might be watching him. And yet, Casey Affleck’s quiet, almost passive, work here is brilliant. This is likely the only role I will ever remember him for.
Manchester by the Sea is about pain. It is not about redemption. In a way, this makes it fairly exclusive, like Amour a few years ago. You aren’t gonna get this film if you don’t have pain in your past … and you’ll get it even less if you combat or deny personal mediocrity. This is a film best appreciated by those who look not for atonement or forgiveness. It would be easy to pan this film for lack of accessibility, and that’s not wrong; I wouldn’t recommend it, say, for Best Picture no matter what it’s up against. But Manchester by the Sea is raw and brutal and occasionally brilliant. I have no problem citing this among the best pictures of the year.
Doesn’t matter where you live
Doesn’t matter what you give
Your world will remain on a shelf
If you cannot forgive yourself
Rated R, 137 Minutes
D: Kenneth Lonergan
W: Kenneth Lonergan
Genre: Life = pain
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: The scarred
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: The frivolous
