Manchester by the Sea

Where can a man turn when death strikes his family, but he has no hope in God? Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) is a Boston janitor living a hermitic life fueled with rage and alcohol, until he’s called back to his hometown to bury his brother and care for his 16-year-old nephew, Patrick (Lucas Hedges). There are whispers about Lee all over the fishing village where he grew up. It’s clear he’s a legend, but for what? The dramatic question is whether Lee can escape the memories of his past and start caring for Patrick, who’s desperate not to leave his friends and school behind.

When Jesus witnessed despair around Him because of Lazarus’ death, He still wept, though resurrection was coming next. Similarly, if you watch “Manchester by the Sea,” you may weep the tears that Lee Chandler cannot allow himself to release over his past sins and family members now represented by gravestones. We come to empathize with this man, not because he breaks down sobbing over his past, but because the filmmakers fill in the blanks with plentiful flashbacks to help us understand why Lee behaves with such quiet rage.

Affleck gives a powerful performance, and Michelle Williams plays the small, memorable role of Randi—a woman from Lee’s past. If the movie stayed focused mainly on Lee, it may have lasted 90 minutes. However, the movie is 137 minutes because many scenes detail how Patrick salves his pain by trying to have sex with his two teen girlfriends and succeeds with his Uncle Lee’s assistance. No doubt this is indeed how some American teenage boys would try to deal with loss, and I don’t expect characters without Christ to act like perfect Christians. But it was hard for me to keep caring about Patrick while he constantly complains, demands money, and fornicates—he’s mostly annoying. Again, this is probably a rather accurate depiction of how some teens might react to being orphaned, but it grew wearisome.

Writer-director Kenneth Lonergan usually works as a playwright (turning up briefly in a memorable cameo), and his heavy dialog may remind you of being in a theater. He keeps the film mysterious and interesting until the end. I was surprised by the sudden finale, but I think Lonergan has too much respect for the character he and Affleck have created in Lee Chandler to make us try and believe he’d overcome his painful past in just a few months. There’s a scene, I won’t ruin, in which another movie star shows up in the role of a “pretty Christian” character, according to Patrick, who thinks he’s strange. Lee replies, “You know, we’re Christian, too, right?” referring to their Catholicism. Sadly, Lee’s identification with the faith doesn’t seem to make any difference in his outlook on life nor daily activities.

Though I don’t condone many of the characters’ moral choices nor their non-stop profanity, I could still recommend the film to Christian adults who can stomach a heavy drama with some great acting, humor, and solid filmmaking craft. I would not be surprised if the film wins several Oscars in 2017.

Violence: Moderate / Profanity: Extreme—O.M.G. (9), “G*d d*mn” (6), “Jesus Christ” (3), “Jesus” (5), “Oh G*d” (3), “For Chr*st's sakes” (2), “h*ll” (4), mother-f****r (3), f-words (83), s-word (12), a**hole (7), a** (4), S.O.B. (1) / Sex/Nudity: Heavy

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