Manchester by the Sea (2016)

November 17, 2016 (US) • Drama • 138m

Overview

After his older brother passes away, Lee Chandler is forced to return home to care for his 16-year-old nephew. There he is compelled to deal with a tragic past that separated him from his family and the community where he was born and raised.

Director

Kenneth Lonergan

Writer

Kenneth Lonergan

Top Billed

Casey Affleck

Keywords

funeral boston, massachusetts brother boat sadness massachusetts melancholy loss dysfunctional family grief hospital house fire death nephew ex-wife nonlinear timeline mental health ex-husband ex-wife relationship legal guardian dysfunctional life tragic

Where to watch

Free / Included

Amazon Prime Video

Amazon Prime Video with Ads

Top Billed Cast

Casey Affleck

Lee Chandler

Lucas Hedges

Patrick Chandler

Michelle Williams

Randi Chandler

Kyle Chandler

Joe Chandler

C.J. Wilson

George

Gretchen Mol

Elise Henderson

Matthew Broderick

Jeffrey Garner

Anna Baryshnikov

Sandy

Heather Burns

Jill

Ivy O'Brien

Young Patrick Chandler

Kara Hayward

Silvie McGann

Tom Kemp

Stan Chandler

Josh Hamilton

Wes (Joe's Lawyer)

Tate Donovan

Hockey Coach

Ruibo Qian

Dr. Bethany

Robert Sella

Dr. Muller

Susan Pourfar

Nurse Irene

Stephen McKinley Henderson

Mr. Emery

Chloe Dixon

Suzy Chandler

Ellie Teves

Karen Chandler

Mary Mallen

Sharon

Richard Donelly

Mr. Martinez (1st Tenant)

Virginia Loring Cooke

Mrs. Groom (2nd Tenant)

Quincy Tyler Bernstine

Marianne (3rd Tenant)

Missy Yager

Mrs. Olsen (4th Tenant)

Ben Hanson

Bartender

Lewis D. Wheeler

1st Businessman at Bar

Anthony Estrella

2nd Businessman at Bar

Paul Meredith

Paul (Assistant Principal)

Carolyn Pickman

Paul's Assistant

Christian Mallen

Oscar Wahlberg

Joel

Wendy Overly

Wes's Assistant

Jackson Damon

Otto

Shawn Fitzgibbon

Tom Doherty (Ping-Pong Player)

Glenn McKiel

Manchester Police Chief

Joe Stapleton

Fire Marshall

Brian Chamberlain

Investigating Detective

Kenneth Lonergan

Manchester Pedestrian

Jami Tennille

Janine

Liam McNeill

Josh (Randi's Husband)

Danae Nason

Rachel (Randi's Friend)

Allyn Burrows

Father Martin

Nellie Lonergan

1st Girl at School ("Godspell")

Brian A. White

Jerry (Guy in Boat Yard Office)

Erica McDermott

Sue (Angry Boss in Boat Yard Office)

Frank Garvin

Homeowner

William Bornkessel

George's Son (uncredited)

Kt Baldassaro

Bar Patron (uncredited)

Crew

Paul Marini

Stunt Coordinator

Elizabeth Cecchini

Key Hair Stylist

Fred Young

Best Boy Electric

Ryan McCoy Johnson

Leadman

Ed Searles

Grip

Frank Barbosa

Hair Department Head

Stuart Macphee

Post Production Supervisor

Kevin S. Parker

Sound Mixer

Teresa Hays

Best Boy Grip

Karl Hartman

Production Coordinator

Cynthia Garcia Walker

Production Accountant

Matthew Nutter

Graphic Designer

Ryan Baker

Utility Sound

Jill Sacco

Production Secretary

Tim LaDue

Second Second Assistant Director

Hannah Rhein

Set Costumer

Alex Berard

Location Manager

Kai Quinlan

Location Manager

Billy Dowd

Extras Casting

Roland Vajs

Sound Re-Recording Mixer

Tyler Newhouse

ADR Recordist

Summer Phoenix

Thanks

Michael Ricci

Special Effects Supervisor

Patrick M. Walsh

Stunt Coordinator

Jeff Dionne

Assistant Location Manager

Leslie Bloome

Foley Artist

Jacob Ribicoff

Sound Re-Recording Mixer

Ryan Collison

Foley Recording Engineer

James Shearman

Orchestrator

Taylor Levy

Assistant Editor

Wendy Overly

Dialect Coach

Risa Uchida Battis

Set Dresser

Michael Potter

Set Dresser

Timothy Lewis

Set Dresser

Amy Teitter

Set Dresser

Kenneth Lonergan

Director

Kenneth Lonergan

Writer

Jody Lee Lipes

Director of Photography

Jennifer Lame

Editor

Douglas Aibel

Casting

Ruth De Jong

Production Design

Melissa Toth

Costume Design

Lesley Barber

Original Music Composer

Jourdan Henderson

Art Direction

Florencia Martin

Set Decoration

Jeff Kryvicky

Title Designer

Zach Zatet

Casting Assistant

Kevin J. Walsh

Producer

Linda Cohen

Music Supervisor

Susanna Brown

Tailor

Chris Moore

Producer

Patrick Quinn

First Assistant Camera

Joanna Fang

Foley

Roland Vajs

Foley Editor

Gigi Pritzker

Producer

Mick Gormaley

Music Editor

Terrence Hayes

Camera Operator

Peter Stevenson

Boom Operator

Julien Zeitouni

First Assistant Camera

Dan Edelstein

ADR Editor

Jacob Ribicoff

Supervising Sound Editor

Christina Delerme

Digital Intermediate

Dann Fink

ADR Voice Casting

Alanna Keenan

Set Costumer

Joshua Dreyfus

Gaffer

Warren A. Weberg

Key Grip

Liz Bernstrom

Makeup Department Head

Sherryn Smith

Key Makeup Artist

Matt Bouldry

Casting Associate

Joanna Murphy

Assistant Costume Designer

Brannon Smithwick

Art Department Assistant

Amy Pickering

Costume Supervisor

Kimberly Steward

Producer

Lauren Beck

Producer

Andrea Ulrich

Script Supervisor

Carolyn Pickman

Casting

Petr Hlinomaz

Camera Operator

Robert Kelly

Dolly Grip

Mark DeSimone

ADR & Dubbing

Jacob Ribicoff

Sound Designer

Jack Lewars

Digital Intermediate

Joey Handy

Digital Intermediate

Matt Damon

Producer

Morgan Kling

Property Master

Brant S. Fagan

Steadicam Operator

Rob Fitz

Makeup Artist

Ivan Barahona

Digital Intermediate

Henry Russell Bergstein

Casting Associate

Beth Anderson

Assistant Property Master

Claire Folger

Still Photographer

Julius Horsthuis

Visual Effects Supervisor

John Krasinski

Executive Producer

Alexa Zimmerman

Dialogue Editor

Michael Fuchs

Steadicam Operator

Michael J. Moore

First Assistant Director

Josh Godfrey

Executive Producer

Declan Baldwin

Executive Producer

Declan Baldwin

Unit Production Manager

Bill Migliore

Executive Producer

Ryan Stowell

Co-Producer

David Blazina

Second Assistant Director

Brian Ricci

Special Effects

Reviews

Dave

⭐ 1/10

February 13, 2017

I watched this movie based on its high score, I found the movie to be too long and maybe should have been edited down to 90 minutes or less. I usually go for exteneded versions of movies as I like to really get into the characters and don't normally like it to be over to quickly.
This was one of those occasions where instead of entertainment it was a chore to watch, I didn't find the actors performances anything special or the context of the sto… read the rest.

lasttimeisaw

⭐ 8/10

February 14, 2017

American dramatist Kenneth Lonergan’s third feature, after his career has been punishingly stalled by the ill-fated MARGARET (2011), made in 2005 as a much-anticipated follow-up to his sterling debut YOU CAN COUNT ON ME (2000), then embroiled in the lawsuit purgatory with the film’s producers and only would be permitted for a limited release 6 years after, MANCHESTER BY THE SEA impacts as a resounding comeback and it is as good as you can get while toiling away with thumping grief and inconsolable guilt.

Lee Chandler (Affleck), a building janitor in Boston, he is the dour and withdrawn everyman type who distances himself from rest of the world and occasionally courts unwarranted bar brawl to unleash the smothering anger, so routinely the film will slowly mine into his profoundly buried tale-of-woe which would explain how he has fetched up to the current walking-dead state, and in this case, it is a helluva calamity, the most heart-rending accident could ever happen to a parent, and he has no one but himself to answer for. Receiving the news that his brother Joe (Chandler) died in a sudden heart attack, brings Lee back to his hometown, the titular Manchester-by-the-Sea where flashback adroitly interleaves into the narrative to refresh Lee’s memory (edited with pellucid correlations with what he experiences now) where the concealed secret incubates, and would eventually unfolds in the murky, snow night accompanied by Tomaso Albinoni and Remo Giazotto’s ADAGIO IN G MINOR, a sublime sequence transmits a synesthetic frisson which can knock dead its armchair viewers.

In Joe’s will, he names Lee to be the guardian of his son, the 16-year-old high-school jock Patrick (Hedges), which takes Lee aback, a resultant, seemingly life-affirming uncle-nephew bonding process takes its spin sensibly on veracity and wrestles with both Patrick’s suppressed grievance toward his father’s demise (Lee’s heart condition has been long diagnosed, so that it is more like a time-bomb ticking situation), and Lee’s attempt to re-settle in the town on the face of aghast memories and unrelieved penitence, in a pivotal scene, when Lee’s ex-wife Randi (Williams) pleads him for forgiveness and reconciliation after she has been finally capable of moving on to form a new family and embrace a new life, but feels obliged to proffer some extrication for him too, but things are different for the culpable party, not everyone can make peace with the past, however rational it might sound, some pain can be alleviated through time but other stays, thus one must brave himself to live with it for the rest of his life, that is the affirming life-philosophy Lonergan tries to pass on to his audience through studiously delving into the realistic double-bind based on an über-dramatic back-bone, which appears to be an abiding mythos in all his three directorial works to date.

Casey Affleck finds his footing in inhabiting Lee with a simmering intensity underneath his alternatively inscrutable/apathetic/distraught veneer, a performance is so aptly up his alley (a combo of hang-dog frustration and whimpering elocution) and to call it the performance of the year wouldn’t be such a stretch. Michelle Williams, shoe-horned in a peripheral role, but manifests herself as a sniveling and imploring scene-stealer just in one scene, she dangles us with immense curiosity about how her character has gone through the catastrophe, but essentially this film is Lee’s story. Lucas Hedges gets a windfall for being cast in a plum role and nominated for an Oscar, which could be a double-edged sword for the future of his budding career, but as credible and affecting as his portrayal is, the credit should mostly given for Lonergan’s well-rounded script of a rather bratty teenager; also Kyle Chandler is virtually next-in-line for a renaissance on the big screen after starring a string of high-caliber Oscar-baits, from ARGO, ZERO DARK THIRTY (both in 2012), to THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (2013), CAROL (2015) and now this, all in small roles but his presence looms larger each time.

The cinematography is bracingly crisp and un-showy, a modest production design and an unobtrusive score borrows many classical pieces, MANCHESTER BY THE CITY is a contemplative continuation in the aftermath of a latter-day Greek tragedy, which elevates Lonergan’s status as one of the most outstanding cinematic story-teller currently from USA soil, and one can bet, co-producer Matt Damon must secretly rue the day that he couldn’t commit himself to Casey's role which would have earned him a coveted Oscar statuette as an actor, and in hindsight, his preference to star in Zhang Yimou’s Chinese monster fantasy THE GREAT WALL (2016) now looks like a dumb decision.

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Reno

⭐ 8/10

February 24, 2017

**The life doesn't reflect how we want.**

First of all it was not based on any book, but you can see that book kind of effect in the storytelling. One of the best original screenplay, I won't be surprised if it wins the Oscars for that. I actually struggled in the opening to catch the storyline. Because the past and present overlapped while sharing the presentation alternatively. But it was about the present with flashbacks popping out regularly to join the tale by comparing/revealing the earlier events. So after few occasions, I got used to it and enjoyed my rest of the watch.

I always love good drama films. But not all the drama films I have seen are the masterpiece. So despite it was received so well from all the quarters, I kept my expectations low. The initial parts were okay, but its only during the final stage I begin to like it more. Especially the Casey's performance. I have seen him in many great films, in the big roles, but I think this one is his best, particularly from the positive perspective of the character he had played. Looks like the decade belongs to Affleck brothers. They have given great performances recently and acted in the great films that will be remembered for a long time.

This is the story of the Lee, a man who works as a janitor. One day he receives a call that his brother had passed away as he was suffering from the illness for a some time. Since his brother got divorced, all the responsibility comes under his belt, including his teenage son. Now those two struggles to join the force, but somehow manages all. Meanwhile, till the conclusion, the Lee's life before that point were disclosed to us, like how he struggled in his own life before coming to end in the current situation.

I could be wrong, but Casey Affleck's going to win the Oscars for his performance. Andrew Garfield is the other guy standing between his chance. I'll be happy whoever wins between them. I like Michelle Williams, but her Oscars nominee is meaningless. What, she appeared for 10-15 minutes in the entire narration which can be tagged as a guest appearance than a full fledged role. This is a fine drama, one of the year's best, deserved all the Oscars nod it got. Surely worth a watch and I recommend it.

_8/10_

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Andres Gomez

⭐ 9/10

May 8, 2017

Great characters movie. There is little to say about this movie that has not been told yet.

The story is simple but interesting and well told. The photography and the location of Manchester-by-the-sea is a very well chosen and the directing is very good.

And on top of everything else is its cast. A very well chosen cast that performs at a fantastic level with Casey Affleck delivering one of the most breathtaking performances of the last yea… read the rest.