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| Two star actors in an emotional moment by a waterfront surrounded by seagulls make up this poster for Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea |
A janitor with a terrible tragedy behind him is tasked with taking care of his late brother's teenage son.
Manchester by the Sea is written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan (You Can Count on Me (2000)).
It is a potent, heavy drama about unbearable loss, guilt and the life around a situation like this, (which always moves on perfectly disregarding those personal facts.)
If audiences are out of sync with the story, the film's funereal score will let us know, where we are. And the Massachusetts locale adds an evocative setting to the almost epic drama, which centers around a protagonist, who seems to go in a circle around his past as well as major emotional outbreaks. - SPOILER Instead he explodes in unmotivated violence in bars from time to time, (as a true Irish Catholic?) Casey Affleck (Drowning Mona (2000)) inhabits the character, and yet there is still something about the actor's cool expression that rubs me the wrong way. Young Lucas Hedges (Honey Boy (2019)) as Patrick, the teenage son, is really good, and Michelle Williams (Deception (2008)) is masterly in a supporting part. Gretchen Mol (Celebrity (1998)) is also fine as the overly nervous, alienated mother to the boy.
Manchester by the Sea is a worthwhile, heavily loaded drama with an open ending, a dose of implicit humor and the trace of hope.
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 9 mil. $
Box office: 78.9 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 8.76 times its cost)
[Manchester by the Sea premiered 23 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 137 minutes. Lonergan has said of his motivation for writing and making the film;
"Some people can't get over something major that's happened to them at all; why can’t they have a movie too?" Matt Damon was initially supposed to star. Shooting took place in Massachusetts from February - May 2015. Amazon bought the US distribution right to the film for 10 mil. $ at Sundance. The film opened #21 to a 256k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #6 and in 1,213 theaters (different weeks), grossing 47.6 mil. $ (60.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 4.5 mil. $ (5.7 %) and France with 3.2 mil. $ (4.1 %). The film was nominated for 6 Oscars, winning for Best Original Screenplay and Actor (Affleck). It lost Best Picture to Moonlight, Supporting Actor (Hedges) to Mahershala Ali in Moonlight, Supporting Actress (Williams) to Viola Davis in Fences and Director to Damien Chazelle for La La Land. It also won 1/5 Golden Globe nominations, 2/6 BAFTAs nominations, an AFI award, was nominated for a César award and a David di Donatello award, won 1/5 Independent Spirit award nominations, 4 National Board of Review awards, and countless other honors. Lonergan has not announced another feature since. Affleck returned in The Finest Hours (2016); Williams in Certain Women (2016); and Hedges in Pigeonhearts (2017, short) and theatrically in Lady Bird (2017). Manchester by the Sea is certified fresh at 96 % with an 8.82/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Manchester by the Sea?
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