There is sex in the movie, but nothing seductive. Violence, but no bleeding. There is alcoholism, but there is no emotion. After drinking, he fights, and nothing else happens after the fight. And "brother" loyalty is not the kind that is gearing up to help you seek justice, just do what you need to do without words.
The story is so light that there is no story, and the plot is flat to almost mother-in-law, but this is the best script I have seen in recent years. Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor/Actress, Supporting Actor, Director and Original Screenplay. After watching the film, I felt that the Oscar judges were indeed "watching the film", and these six nominations were all well deserved.
The background of the story is the small town of Manchester, Massachusetts, USA. The town is very small, with just over 5,000 inhabitants, by the sea. Very cold and very boring. From the film, there is only one tavern, a group of men are drinking at the bar, and the bartender is also an old man. They greeted each other in rough voices, and suddenly one of them was upset, or if they drank too much, they punched someone, so the people who fought and cheered, formed a group, and then went home with their injuries.
Kathy Affleck (he's Ben Affleck's younger brother) plays the hero "Lee," a so-called "rough guy." There is no plot in the film, but it can be seen that he is an ordinary person. After finishing high school in a small town, he may have enlarged the belly of his female classmate, so he got married and had a bunch of children after marriage. Work on the boat with my brother. Have a drink after work. When drunk, go to "Lu" his wife, "Lu" his own children. It's a bit of a no-brainer, and the wife treats him like a fuck. He will pretend to be good, and he will say anything to him, but he actually ignores his wife's words. He apologized when his wife got angry, but he still went his own way when he turned his back.
The director (and also the screenwriter) is great. He explained these details in just one scene. When Li was at home with "Lu" and his child, "Lu"'s wife, it could be seen that he had a happy life and was full of cheerful people.
There is an interesting play. Li and his friends were playing billiards downstairs. A group of men were laughing and laughing. When his wife came out and scolded him, he would wake up the children. A few big men, very obedient, immediately lowered their heads and fell silent. Li apologized to his wife. But as soon as the wife turned around and didn't even go back to the room, they started fighting again. Michelle Williams (who played Lee's wife) came over again in a huff and told Lee to drive everyone home: "It's two in the middle of the night."
Lee's buddy left. At the door, I said sorry to the sullen hostess. There is a certain essence of masculinity in this scene. When they play, they are like children, thinking nothing. Wait for the woman to remind them what "reality" is: it's midnight, the child is about to be woken up, it's time for you to go home. So they "switched" to "adult", polite and considerate. But any woman who's been in a long-term relationship with a man understands that it's an appearance. But just deal with us. Not at all that they will change.
The director used a lot of details to express the man's "nervous streaks". When his brother died, Lee called the funeral home in front of his concubine, Patrick, until Patrick's girlfriend scolded him, "You shouldn't have said that in front of him." He walked away.
He didn't want to be the guardian of his concubine, and in front of Patrick, he asked his best friend and his wife, "Can you take care of him?" Angrily, Patrick asked, "Are you pushing me to someone else so soon?"
When the brother's ex-wife called, Li heard that it was the other party and hung up immediately. Patrick later rebuked him: "Why didn't you let me talk to my mother on the phone, you didn't even tell me she called." Lee explained the matter: "I hung up because I didn't know what to call her. What. I didn't tell you because I didn't know how to tell you."
He was actually that simple, and he didn't have any more complicated thoughts. But it doesn't mean that he is not profound at all, it doesn't mean that he can't feel sadness and pain. He's got thick nerves, but he's got all that, he just can't show it.
Casey did a great job. He was expressionless from start to finish. After the tragedy that happened to him, he lived his life as usual, and on the surface, he couldn't see anything but not laughing. In the past, he had a wife and daughter, friends, and family. But later, he let himself live in loneliness. He worked menial jobs, paid the minimum wage, and endured unfair treatment. After work, I drink to the end of my life. After that, I may fight with someone, or I may go home by myself.
The movie explains how men handle things, they go straight, rough and straight. Like a hockey team coach treats Patrick. Patrick was scolded by the coach during practice and seemed to be dissatisfied with him. But after knowing that his father died, the coach called him to the office and said that he needed time to adapt to his father's death and could not participate in training for the time being. Originally it was to express warmth, but Patrick said: "I hope training can help distract me." Coach immediately replied: "Hockey requires you to concentrate, not help you to distraction"
seems unreasonable, in fact, all Truth be told. Assuming that if the coach was a woman, her performance must be warm, soothing, mixed with hugs and tears. And in the end, she might have agreed to let Patrick continue his training to "distract" his grief over the loss of his father.
Likewise, Lee later met with ex-wife Randy. Randy started to cry when he apologized. And Li didn't have a single tear, just eager to leave. The same tragedy happened in the lives of two people. The woman was telling and telling, many tears, remorse, rebuke, and anger. The man was almost unresponsive, and wanted to get away.
Li's pain manifested in the back, he ran to drink and found someone to fight after drinking. At his friend's house, when the other's wife applied his wounds, he buried himself in the woman's arms and remained silent. Just stay and cry silently.
A small detail. Li's brother's boat was a woman's name, and later explained that it was the name of the deceased mother of the two brothers. This is how men express their emotions. Put the most important things in the most important places, he just does it, but never talks about it.
Director Kenneth Loregan was originally a screenwriter. This script is really top-notch. In fact, except for Li, there are very few other people in the scene, including the heroine Michelle Williams, but although they say a few words, they are all key scenes. The screenwriter wrote the characters so three-dimensional and full, No wonder these actors are all nominated.
I think it's a "man" movie made for women. What the director showed was: Yes, men are what you think they are, but they are not quite like that. Sometimes it's not a question of whether they're willing to express it, or whether they're able to express it, it's the way they do it.
If, for thousands of years, most of the men we see are like this, then, perhaps agree, this is the original appearance of the species "man". Civilized society has made men make many changes, becoming more empathetic, considerate, delicate, sensitive, willing to communicate, and become "new good men". However, at some point, their "essence" will still be revealed. It's like taking a breather in life.
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