Manchester by the Sea is a shattering, affecting movie that revolves around awkward conversations. So it’s appropriate, though also annoying, that more than a few awkward conversations revolve around the lingering unease felt by some in Hollywood over the fact that its star, Casey Affleck, settled sexual harassment cases with two women in 2010.
Manchester by the Sea is about a janitor in Boston struggling to cope with a slew of personal tragedies and his difficulties acting as guardian to his 16-year-old nephew following the death of the janitor’s brother. It’s about to win the Best Actor Oscar for Affleck—unless Hollywood lives up to Sean Spicer’s conception of it and salutes Denzel Washington in an SJW-fueled backlash. But actually the movie, written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan, should win the Oscar for Best Film. (Here’s an alternative Heat Street view on why that accolade should go to Hell or High Water).
Unless a miracle happens, La La Land will run away with the top prize. But here are five reasons why Manchester by the Sea should be basking in awards glory:
1. It’s the Best Movie of 2016:
It’s been said before but bears repeating:. Manchester by the Sea is so moving because it’s true to life. There is no climatic breakdown scene at the end for Casey Affleck’s character Lee Chandler. No cliché-ridden sermons are uttered by a working-class striver about opportunity. Right from the beginning, when Affleck’s janitor straightforwardly but entertainingly explains to tenants of varying politeness the nature of their plumbing problems, you know you’re in the company of authentic characters.
The film’s most celebrated scene is when Chandler meets his ex-wife Randi (Michelle Williams) on the street. But there’s no stand-up row and they don’t have a subsequent hookup scene. The pair poignantly realize they have no alternative but to go their separate ways. Some people call the film arthouse. Others call it sluggish. But it’s more real than most movies that would have had them living happily ever after or scuffling on the sidewalk.
Affleck’s naturalism is extraordinary and unpredictable—you never know if he’s about to lighten up or burst into tears. But as fine as he is, it’s not the Casey Affleck show. A litany of supporting characters supply small but perfectly formed turns.
2. It Follows Oscar-Winning Tradition:
The Academy Awards lately has dispensed its top prize to distinctively themed movies as if a Hollywood elite committee had got together at the start of 2010 and said: “We’ll give the Best Film Oscar to an Iraq war movie” (The Hurt Locker) or convened a year later and thought it high time a French silent film (The Artist) got the golden statue. This year giddy musical escapism is in vogue.
Manchester by the Sea doesn’t fill any exciting genre description. But it falls within the great Academy Award-winning tradition of painstakingly chronicling an individual’s attempt to carry on in the face of adversity and fit into the world around them. The Oscars used to value this quality in a movie (think Midnight Cowboy in 1969 or Rain Man two decades later winning Best Picture). Lonergan’s latest depiction of how to manage misfortune would prove another worthy winner.
3. It Would Teach Matt Damon an Important Lesson:
If Manchester by the Sea triumphed at the Oscars, it would probably end up making more money domestically than The Great Wall, the US-Chinese blockbuster starring Matt Damon that had a tepid opening last weekend.
This would be satisfying since Damon, a producer of Manchester by the Sea, originally came up with the idea for the movie with his friend John Krasinski. He was supposed to star in it but ultimately opted not to (because of “scheduling”we’re told, though I hear money was an important factor).
As terrific as Casey Affleck is, Damon should never have let this role slip away. The star of The Talented Mr Ripley and The Good Shepherd has lately been listening to his accountant too much and the more acclaim Manchester by the Sea gets, the more chance we’ll get the old Matt Damon back.
4. It Would End the Tiresome Lonergan Narrative:
There’s nothing more appealing to journalists than a persona that can easily be slapped onto an individual. Ever since his horribly public experience making his previous movie Margaret, Kenneth Lonergan has been chronicled as the tortured artist. Oscars for Manchester by the Sea would put paid to that narrative.
Lonergan is the most astute chronicler of human behavior out there today; Manchester by the Sea is the latest example of him achieving what he managed to do with his 1996 play This is Our Youth and 2001 movie You Can’t Count Me: presenting human adversity and humor without ever subsiding into sentimentality or emotive manipulation, a disease that plagues so many of his contemporaries.
It could be that Lonergan needed the angst to fuel the creative fire that fueled Manchester by the Sea. There’s only one way to find out, and that’s by giving him all the credit he deserves.
5. It’s a Tale for 2017:
The category for Best Film should be renamed Best Film That Captures the Zeitgeist of Our Time. We’ve been hearing plenty about Lion‘s suitability vis-à-vis the White House’s new tightened immigration policy. And La La Land‘s shortcomings, recently chronicled here by Heywood Gould, aren’t significant enough in the minds of many Academy Awards voters to counter the Californian musical explosion being perceived as the ideal corrective to East Coast Trumpism.
But the film that best captures 2017? You’ve guessed it: Manchester by the Sea. The film is at its core a study in survival; many liberals need to learn how to deal with the President and dial down the social media hysteria, while Trump supporters need to better navigate the traps being set by political opponents inside the beltway and in the media reacting to the latest chaotic government policy rollout.
It sure says about the world we live in than recent Oscar winners Spotlight or Birdman. For instance, Affleck’s bemusement at the precocity of his nephew speaks to the generational chasm that exists between teenagers and their elders.
It would be apt if this great movie, centered around a tormented figure coming to terms with adversity, were to prove this Sunday’s big winner. The moral of Manchester by the Sea is that there are no easy solutions for coping with loss and regret. But when it comes to this year’s Oscars puzzle, there a much simpler solution: Give one to Manchester by the Sea for each of the six categories in which it was nominated.
