Manchester By The Sea

2017 is being all-too-kind to us movie-wise with January and February flooded with massive new releases and, almost without exception thus far, films delivering on the hype and being critical praised. Most of these have already been on screens Stateside last year and hoovering up awards and Manchester By The Sea is no exception.

All you need to know going in is that Lee (Casey Affleck), a janitor in Boston with a potentially haunted past, moves back to Manchester (the titular American town and not to be confused with the UK city) after the death of his brother to take care of the aftermath and, also, take temporary care of his nephew.

Told beautifully by third-time Director Kenneth Lonergan this is a real, harrowing, melancholy, almost-redemption tale about the true horrors one person can experience and presents a haunting tale of how broken a human can be.

Whilst there are some touching moments and light comedic touches, which fit with the realistic tone, this is very much a drama and don't forget to pack your tissues when you enter the cinema; this is the antithesis to La La Land with a halfway point plot-reveal that will leave you stunned.

It's perfectly written and each character is balanced and nuanced, they're real and flawed. Casey Affleck is on incredible form bypassing, for me, Ryan Gosling and Andrew Garfield's fantastic performances in La La Land and Silence respectively and being my personal front-runner for the Best Actor Oscar.

Lonergan has a habit of setting some of the flashback scenes, and those of a more somber disposition (a funeral, for example) to choral and classical music which, whilst initially both eerie and fitting, does get to a point where some may consider it overused (especially as their are recurring musical motifs) but this is hardly a major gripe on what is possibly the most real, human and moving movie since Boyhood.

It'll leave you a little melancholic (not exactly a date-watch) but doesn't deserve to be shunted aside in favor of the other 'bigger-hitters' currently on screens at the moment. A triumph.

5 stars *****