Manchester By The Sea: Blu-ray Review
The Movie:
After a solitary Boston janitor (Casey Affleck) unexpectedly becomes the sole guardian of his 16-year-old nephew, he must come to terms with a past that separated him from his wife (Michelle Williams) and his hometown, as uncle and nephew unite for an unforgettable journey of love, community, sacrifice, and hope.
This film was definitely an interesting one. I’m a big fan of Casey Affleck and what he’s done in his career thus far so I was really looking forward to this film. The surprising thing about it all was the subject matter. The main focus of the film was the dealing and acceptance of the loss of a loved one. Everybody handles that sort of thing very differently and to see the film address this kind of thing made it much more relatable. I would classify this film as a drama but it had the tendencies of a comedy as well with the way that Affleck dealt with certain things. He had this way about his character that was super reserved (for good reason) and awkward but so very honest and blunt which was funny and heartbreaking at the same time. Affleck has evolved so much as an actor and it shows so much in this film. Williams was equally as great and continues to shine in all the dramatic roles that she plays. The only thing that I didn’t particularly like was her accent. It didn’t really sound like it was authentic to me. The accent sounded like the stereotypical Bostonian accent that people do when doing a comedy bit. That was just a small weird thing though and it didn’t affect the rest of the film in any way. The best thing about this movie is that for as emotional as it is it tends to crack a joke to lighten the mood even at its most serous moments and I loved that. This movie was without a doubt a really nice dramatic surprise that talked about real issues that people have dealt with in their lives and for that reason I recommend watching this. 9/10
Special Features:
Deleted Scenes – A few scenes here that aren’t really too interesting.
Emotional Lives: Making Manchester By The Sea – A really great “Making Of” feature that has a good amount of cast and crew interviews.
A Conversation With Writer/Director Kenneth Lonergan – This feature is a cleverly worded Audio Commentary track.
