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| DON'T WATCH ANY TRAILERS! YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW ANYTHING BEFOREHAND. |
Kenneth Lonergan, writer-director of the Oscar-buzzy, Amazon
Studios' "Manchester By the Sea," is a playwright, and his films
reflect that: minute detail to human discourse and a wallowing in
emotionally-charged depths. Lonergan's mother is Jewish and his father is
Irish--and I'm going to assume he was brought up Irish-Catholic because MBS
really nails that milieu. Although from New York City, Lonergan wholeheartedly enters
the Boston experience (as do the actors with their mostly accurate Boston
accents, inflections and attitudes). Michelle Williams, in particular, grasps
the cadence and projects the air of a native--consummate actress that she is.
FULL OF THE BOSTON BAKED BEANS
Why dwell on the writer-director? Because the nature of this
still, little, indie-feeling tragicomedy points back to the writer at all moments.
We're not used to such exposed, realistic dialogue--not delivered in
hyper-reality or with perfectly polished forethought--where people constantly
talk through each other and cut each other's sentences off. Nor are we used to
this true-to-life, regional Bostonspeak (phrases like "skip it," "wicked retahdid," and "f***ing
morons" constantly bandied about). There is a very distinctive way that
people joke around in Boston, especially guys when they get together, and MBS
puts it on full--but naturalistic--display. There's a certain Boston look in
the eye, carriage, a certain set of face that shines through with flying colors
here. And now, the story.
Lee (Casey Affleck) is a janitor in Boston. He's asocial and
shut down. (People who know nothing about the story are better off, as his
backstory is oh-so-gradually revealed through constant and seamless flashbacks.)
There is an underlying hilarity to everything this thinly-but-well-drawn
character says or does, even though we don't know why he is the way he is yet.
This is great, lean writing and acting. My guess is the first scenes were actually shot first because it takes a while for the pace to materialize and
it's a mite too slow and staring in the beginning.
MYSTERIES
We begin to piece together that Lee and his brother, Joe (a
winning Kyle Chandler), grew up in Manchester By the Sea, a coastal town about
30 miles north of Boston. They spent significant time together on a fishing
boat, and we see Lee messing around with Joe's son, Patrick, between whom there
is obvious affection. So what changed it all? All I'm going to say is that Joe
had a bad heart, and tragedy ensues. Lee is called back to Manchester to be his
nephew's legal guardian. But why did Lee leave in the first place? Why is he now
so different from the lovable goofball we saw on the boat? Where are the women
(are there any wives or mothers or girlfriends in Lee or Joe's lives)? Why did
Joe choose Lee to look after his son?
THIS IS LIFE. THIS IS DEATH.
Patrick's life is in instant upheaval, needless to say. But,
like so many Millennials/Gen Z-ers today who carry heavy burdens, he keeps it
all together on the outside, hardly showing any grief. Yet when something
normal, natural and human touches him, it's psychologized, it's "wrong,"
it can't be owned or felt or lived, it must be distanced, categorized, controlled
and manipulated. He's on two sports teams, has two girlfriends and is in a
band. Patrick is played by the seasoned Lucas Hedges (also from NYC, he hails
from a grand old Christian family and more recently an arts family. Lucas is
clearly enjoying himself in this role for which he is more than suited). Patrick
carries himself with the air of an aristocrat or an operator or just a
quintessential entitled young American. Any which way, he's going to be fine.
It's Lee we're worried about. Now that he's back in Manchester, people gawk and
whisper. He never wanted to come back. He's forced to face old ghosts.
MBS is a story about life's worst tragedies and death
hanging over everything. Lee sometimes drinks and fights away his sorrows. We
are laughing constantly at the humor in just about every scene, despite the
ever-present Cross. Often, our characters even appreciate the humor with us.
But it's easier for us to observe than for them to endure. I also cried several
times as did my packed theater.
There were a few false notes of reactions, or rather
non-reactions. Even though the grief was stuffed down, I found myself thinking
a few times: no one would say that, act like that, react like that (including
minor characters).
TEEN SEX IN THE AGE OF THE HOLLOW MAN
My one grievance with the film is the persistently cavalier
attitude toward teenage sex (realistic as that may be)."'Cuz no one's getting hurt, right? 'Cuz the body
and sex are meaningless, right? And we'd better establish that in our tender years,
right?" The adults are such a failure here, including the aged adults in
my theater, whom, I venture, for the most part did NOT treat sex this way as
youths. "But we've gotta be hip and yuk it up, right? And condoms solve
all sexual and relationship problems, right? And no one will ever, ever, ever
get pregnant if you use condoms, right? 'Cuz times have changed and this is how
it is now and we just have to accept it 'cuz no harm is being done and we were
silly NOT to have random sex in our bedrooms at home when we were teens and the kids are just having
fun and it's just so funny, right?" We have really, really, really failed
young people. THEOLOGY. OF. THE. BODY.
GRATEFUL
The soundtrack choices are unique. Lots of classical music,
opera, chamber music and a few sung jazz pieces. But it works.
In the end, the actors are not being precious and precocious
and the film is not "insisting upon itself." You will enter the film
without realizing it and find it hard to get out of it when the credits roll, but
you will be thankful for the continuum of family in your life, such as they
are.
OTHER STUFF:
--There could easily have been many more F-bombs, but they
were judiciously placed. :)
--Casey is great. I heard it stated recently: "Ben
(Affleck) is a movie star. Casey is an actor." He has that unnerving
looking straight past the camera and not blinking mojo--felt keenly in a
soap-opera-close-up-no-quick-cut-aways film like MBS.
--Lee was unhappy. Miserable. But still alive. That's
heroism.
--Sooooo Boston: driving angry, mumbling and talking in
bunches, honed brevity of speech and interactions when the occasion is
momentous and calls for more, overreacting to every little thing, talking too
loudly, dropping the "g" on every "ing" word....
--Dear People Behind Me in Theater Who Think Movie-Going Is
a Time for Catching Up with Friends,
Go. To. A. Coffee. Shop. Silence during contemplative movies is for just that: CONTEMPLATION. Stop talking and let the film sink into your soul instead of slipping off the surface of your contact lenses.
(We need silent theaters like silent cars on commuter trains.)
--The (non-graphic) teen sex scenes made me realize something: How young it starts (with the tacit aid of parents/adults). What starts? The shallow, callous, trite, mechanical, uncaring, male-centric, banal, reductionist, utilitarian, hedonistic, consumeristic, functional, subhuman approach to that part of our lives where we give and receive love and life at the deepest level and which is all tied up with God who is Love and Life and Desire and all tied up with our destiny and our vocation and getting us to heaven.
Go. To. A. Coffee. Shop. Silence during contemplative movies is for just that: CONTEMPLATION. Stop talking and let the film sink into your soul instead of slipping off the surface of your contact lenses.
(We need silent theaters like silent cars on commuter trains.)
--The (non-graphic) teen sex scenes made me realize something: How young it starts (with the tacit aid of parents/adults). What starts? The shallow, callous, trite, mechanical, uncaring, male-centric, banal, reductionist, utilitarian, hedonistic, consumeristic, functional, subhuman approach to that part of our lives where we give and receive love and life at the deepest level and which is all tied up with God who is Love and Life and Desire and all tied up with our destiny and our vocation and getting us to heaven.
--Casey Affleck looks and sounds like JFK sometimes.
--Casey's eyes are incredibly, incredibly emotive. All the acting is right there and in his hunched over comportment and gait.
--Several brilliant, lengthy, wordless sequences (at least
one in slo-mo) that convey so much. (Kind of like the "Up"
infertility and death of wife sequence.)
--"I can't beat it."
--"You know Catholics are Christians, right?"
--In the end, this is a buddy movie: Lee and Patrick.
--One of the quietest, simplest endings to a film.
