A tightly wound star turn from Casey Affleck helps writer-director Kenneth Lonergan deliver on his early promise in this heartbreaking tale of love and regret.
Masterfully told and beautifully acted, Manchester By The Sea is a shattering yet graceful elegy of loss and grief.
If ever there was a film that epitomised the saying ‘no pain, no gain’, this is it. Packs a real wallop.
What makes Manchester by the Sea such an extraordinary work is the investment created in the characters.
That Manchester By The Sea is so absorbing is down to Lonergan’s painstaking directorial style and to a superb Method-style performance from the lead actor.
Lonergan catches you in the minutiae of ordinary living, so when the emotion of extraordinary tragedy suddenly erupts, it is stunning.
Casey Affleck is mesmerising as a Boston janitor who has to care for his dead brother’s son, in Kenneth Lonergan’s weighty study of grief and family ties.
It’s a film that quietly subverts expectations at every turn – and Affleck really is a revelation.
An immensely sad story but one that finds glimmers of hope in the darkest corners of human experience.
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General release. Check local listings for show times.
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