Manchester by the Sea is a movie that doesn't look like it's going to catch on. It's so mourning. Not only are the movie pictures often bland and tasteless, and even the soundtrack is capitalized and indifferent, and the film's male protagonist, Lee Chandler, is "facial paralysis" almost all the way. However, it is such a film. Since its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in early 2016, the industry's reputation has been rising all the way, and then it has entered the 2017 Oscar Best Picture nomination list and won 6 nominations. Unlike the lively "La La Land", "Manchester by the Sea" can be regarded as terribly quiet.
(Spoiler alert ahead) *** At the beginning of the film, a few sets of shots set the tone of the whole film: cold, chilling. And our male protagonist also appeared in the snow. Li, as a plumber, asks him to make suggestions based on the needs of clients, but he doesn’t care; he refuses to apologize if he disagrees with clients; he still doesn’t care if there are beauties in the bar who take the initiative to hook up; however, it’s just because someone "Give him one more look" in the crowd, and he's going to blow his head off...but no matter what happens, he's never got an expression on his face.
After a few scenes, the characters are indifferent, irritable, and resisting characters are clearly outlined, and the rhythm is handled neatly. The character explanation is over, and the story officially begins, and it is a dramatic point of death to the bottom: Li's brother died, and Li needs to return to Manchester from Boston (not the British one) to take care of the funeral. Next, there are long paragraphs of trivial narrative and flashbacks. The only development in the actual plot line is that Lee's older brother, Joe Chandler, decides to teach Lee to raise his son, the underage Patrick, without consulting Lee. In the flashback plot line, we saw a richer and more three-dimensional Li. He has three lovely children with his ex-wife Randy. He not only likes to joke about dirty jokes, but also has a large table of friends. So the question arises: what caused the dramatic change in Lee's personality? Ah yes, at this point in the story, the movie is almost over (almost incredible) 55 minutes. You know, this is a 137-minute movie, and Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger already came here when the 134-minute "Brokeback Mountain" progress bar came here. From the 56th minute onwards, the emotional impact of the film soared, even full of breathlessness: the emotional violin music, the burning house, Randy's exaggerated and distorted facial expressions, Li's shock and powerlessness , several small body bags held by firefighters from the rubble, all these emotions culminated in a series of upgraded shots. At the police station, Li explained the root cause of the tragedy: when he went out to buy beer, he added a few large pieces of firewood, but forgot to put down the fire screen on the fireplace.
As a result, the old-fashioned wooden house turned into a hell on earth in an instant, burning all the beauty and happiness of the past to ashes. He tried to kill himself, but the pistol was not loaded. He hates himself, but he has to live with this full of hatred. He is the creator of all his tragedies. So, everything that was incredible just now became reasonable after this moment. After the film spent half the time completing the characterization of Lee, it can finally concentrate on the line of Lee and Patrick in the second half. If Lee is someone living in the shadow of the past, then Patrick is literally the opposite of Lee.
He was training on the ice rink when he learned of his father's death. The coach offered to take a few days off before coming back, but he said, "No, coach, I want to play." He has two girlfriends at the same time, slept with one and is trying to sleep with the other, and has a not-so-great garage band of his own. And when he saw his father's body, he just glanced at it and turned his head away. But he doesn't care. He didn't want his father's body to be frozen, he wanted his father to be buried as soon as possible. However, they were told that the land freezes in winter and cannot be buried, and that freezing the remains is the only option, otherwise they can only be cremated. He kept insisting that he would inherit his father's fishing boat and that he could be on his own. But when he saw the frozen chicken roll out, he remembered his father's body still lying in the freezer, and cried out in sadness and fear. And when the snow and ice melted in spring, he passed the cemetery, picked up a stick and poked the unfrozen ground.
It is Joe who connects Patrick and Lee closely. Patrick's mother in his childhood was basically synonymous with alcoholism and madness. After his parents divorced, his father accompanied him all the way up. In Li's difficult life, the person who supported him the most was his elder brother. They all said that the eldest brother was like a father, and Joe indeed played such a role in Li's life.
At this point, a hidden theme of the film has become very clear: how to face the separation of life. At some point in our lives, we will always lose the protection of our "father". No one will care about the clutter in your life again, and no one will hold your shoulders when you are crying bitterly. Then, at this time, how should we finish the rest of our lives. So at the end of the film, what we see is that Lee turned and left when facing his ex-wife's re-confession, and still chose to return to Boston after struggling with Patrick's retention. At this time, he was still irritable and painful, but he no longer passively accepted the torture from the past, but consciously and actively chose to leave.
As for Patrick, he tried unsuccessfully to seek refuge with his mother, and tried unsuccessfully to keep Lee with him. Because he has to face the rest of his life alone, he has to grow. So we also see that in the end, on the father's boat, the more well-behaved Sandy is standing beside Patrick, not Slivia, who Li doesn't like. Li, who has been mournful all the time, also showed the only genuine smile in the whole film in that scene.
Ty Burr, a film critic for the Boston Globe, said: "The sadness in this film isn't a negative emotion, it's the kind that makes you feel more alive. Beautiful, the emotion that makes you cherish the most precious things around you.” Director Kenneth Lonergan also said in an interview after the premiere at the Sundance Film Festival: "...for me, it's always been a mystery how people survive the great grief... Losing someone you love is undoubtedly painful, but it is love that makes you go through such pain." All of the above are the most exciting things in the movie. *** In my opinion, Manchester by the Sea is a very well done movie. Some people might say that the film is dipped in the light of the script. Yes, the script for this movie is really good, and the director Kenneth Lonergan is also a screenwriter.
However, this is only the basis of the film, and we can see a lot of examples of good books. From the point of view of film rhythm, some people criticize the awkward editing of flashbacks, which is exactly what I like about it: every flashback is actually Li's emotionally touching scenes. So the director threw the audience into Lee's emotions and memories for no reason. Although it was a bit blunt, at least I was completely sucked into the plot all at once. In addition, the cool-toned picture and the correct composition have played a huge role in creating the atmosphere of the film. The timeline from late winter to early spring coincides with the theme of the movie.
A "sense of humour" is also important. After all, it's the first time I've seen such a dense laugh in such a sad story in a Hollywood movie. And those laughs don't come from rude spoofs, but more from the helplessness of life and the dislocation of emotions, which makes it seem advanced, pretentious, and poignant. Also, Casey Affleck's "Facial Paralysis". Although the whole process is almost expressionless, it is full of drama. In the face of the fire, no expression conveys that great sadness more than "no expression"; after reuniting with his ex-wife, uncomfortably turning his head and winking conveys entanglement and pain; and at the end, seeing Patrick and Sandy in When we were together, that smile was so real. Therefore, many technical expressions such as film images, soundtracks, performances, and the spiritual core of the film form a kind of intertext between the outside and the inside: seemingly calm and restrained, in fact, the undercurrent is turbulent. It is this invisible huge force that keeps pushing you, making people unable to return to their senses for a long time after the film ends. That certainly doesn't mean Manchester by the Sea is a perfect movie. The movie is a little forced in the promotion of some emotions. All emotional outbursts in this film (fire, police station, farewell to the remains) are made with upgraded footage. Coupled with the sudden sensational soundtrack, it will inevitably make some audiences who have not yet entered the play feel abrupt. In addition, there is the lack of characterization of Joe, the lack of the main female characters in the overall drama, and so on. Considering the capacity of the film, these are arguably innocuous little flaws. *** It's fair to say that Manchester by the Sea was a solid 2016 by any measure. For me, it's natural to wish it had more wins at the Oscars. It's just that this is not lively at all, there are no black actors, and there is not much of a movie. It is estimated that it will not be the best of the year in the eyes of the academy. Predicted Awards: Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor Competition Awards: Best Picture, Best Director*** Finally, I made a small commercial. I just recorded a radio show with my friends last weekend, commenting on the 2017 Oscars ( We understand) all the nominations (some are too technical and we are not professional so I didn't mention them). The program has been cut out, welcome to listen to it~ [What radio station] listen online_mp3 download_ Himalaya official website
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