Manchester By The Sea | Film Review

Hey Guys x

So, today's post, as you can see, is another film review. About an hour ago I saw the Oscar Nominated 'Manchester By The Sea', and I wanted to review it as soon as possible while it's still in my head.

The film is about a guy called Lee who lives in Boston, but is forced to travel back to his hometown of Manchester, Massachusetts after the death of his brother. But when he finds out that he is the sole guardian of his nephew Patrick, his has to decide what's more important - taking care of Patrick, or escaping the demons of his past.

I don't know how I felt about this film. I enjoyed it, I thought it was very well-written, well-acted, and it was a great original concept. I think it deserves it's Oscar nomination and I think that Casey Affleck could definitely win the Best Actor Oscar for it, his performance was great.

However, there were some things about it that I didn't enjoy. For one, I love a bit of conflict in a film, especially if it's helping to advance the plot. But in this film, there was a hell of a lot of conflict and anger and shouting that never really got resolved. Walking out of the cinema, it almost made me want to be angry too because the characters were angry. And I know that the anger is important, especially because the characters are dealing with grief, but there definitely weren't as many heartfelt moments as I assumed there would be.

Also, from my point of view, there wasn't really any character arcs. Casey Affleck's character got more likeable towards the end, but I didn't really feel that he'd changed that much as a person, more that he was doing what other people wanted him to do.

However, Casey Affleck played the part extremely well. In addition, Lucas Hedges was phenomenal, and I really hope he wins the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. I really believed him in the role and I think he was the perfect person to play the character.

Speaking of the actors in the roles, I really did expect Michelle Williams to be in the film more than she was, or to have a more prominent role. I don't think that her character got many chances to shine - if anything, there is only one performance that I can pick out that I think she was great in.

Nevertheless, I would really recommend this film. It's not a comedy or a thriller, it doesn't have excitement for the sake of excitement. It's a story about a guy trying to deal with life when his life is harder than the average person's. It's about people trying to do the right thing, it's real. I think that's the thing that I love most about the film, how real it is. If you take anything away from it, take that.

Thank you for reading.

Will you see this film? Have you? Comment below!

Lou xx