If I could sum up "Manchester by the Sea" in one sentence, I would like to tell the story of Lee Chandler's never out of the shadows of life.
After an all-night party with friends, Li lit the fireplace to keep warm, but unfortunately caused a fire, and all three children died in the fire. Subsequently, his wife left him, and Li also left his hometown of Manchester to move to other cities to make a living. Every now and then, he would come back to help take care of his nephew. The nephew is the brother's child. My brother's family was also unfortunate. My sister-in-law was alcoholic and hysterical. Finally, she ran away from home and my brother suffered a serious heart attack.
The complete narrative above comes from a collage of fragments of the film's constant flashbacks of reality and the past. The story of the movie actually starts here - Li, who is working in other places, suddenly learned that his brother was dying of a serious illness. In the process of taking care of the funeral, he found that his brother had already made a will, hoping that he would be the guardian of his nephew, and he was very considerate. Set aside for him a move back to Manchester.
What should Li do next? That's the question the film is set to answer. According to the stereotype, no matter what kind of way of speaking is adopted, a warm ending is often given in the end-with the help of everyone, Li began to face life positively again. The brother gave the money, and the mother of the nephew's girlfriend was also interested in Li. It should be said that both material and emotional well-being were well, and it was time for Li to realize. But this movie is not that way. As said at the beginning, the movie tells the story of Li never getting out of the shadows of life. Therefore, Li did not accept his brother's kindness in the end, and instead entrusted it to his brother's friend. Li will never return to the state of being good at socializing and joking when his daughter was alive. The nephew finally asked him why he didn't stay, and Li Lian said it twice: I can't hold on anymore. Li's pain, like the cold wind in the movie, pierces the audience's bones in all directions.
First , religious fraternity cannot save him. My sister-in-law later married a devout and self-disciplined Christian, and her temperament changed so much that she even felt uncomfortable. On the way to pick up his nephew from his sister-in-law's new home, Li and his nephew said: We also believe in Christianity. It's not aimless, religion can save an alcoholic, but not a man whose heart has died.
Second , the forgiveness of his ex-wife could not save him. When Lee returned to Manchester, he once met his wife, who had started a new family and had another child, on the street. This scene is very good. How painful the ex-wife's narration is, how painful the past is, but the ex-wife's tearful remarks did not actually enter Li's heart. Because the starting point of the ex-wife is the relationship between two people, she will end with "I still love you"; and what Li can never escape is the feelings or guilt for the children, rather than lamenting this marriage. Although the director did not give any footage of the three photos that Lee carried with him, it is conceivable that in these three photos are about the children, not the ex-wife. Of course, this does not mean that the ex-wife does not love children, nor does it mean that Li has no feelings for his ex-wife, but the weight is different.
In the end , the tolerance of others could not save him. Brother doesn't need to say, otherwise, he would not have made such an arrangement in his will. During this time in Manchester, the brother's friend and his family have also been doing everything they can to help Lee with all kinds of difficulties. But in fact, most people in the town couldn't accept Li. From his nephew's teammates in the ice hockey team, to the lady who accompanied his ex-wife shopping, to the people Li met when he was looking for a job, it was never really possible to accept this. The father of a child who was burned to death. What's more, even if someone sympathized with Li at first, as he fell deeper and deeper into decadence and depression, it was indeed difficult to ask others to continue to care for him and take care of him.
Putting these separated truths together is the main plot of this movie. Layers and pieces of wet cloth cover Li Li's depressed mood, and he can't breathe. Because the story itself is convincing enough, we will not investigate and question why Li can't forget or be strong, but quietly watch, from Li's gestures, even just a look, a sigh, to feel his Despair and heartbreak.
Narratively speaking, the film is also well-controlled. All the characters, no matter how few scenes, are alive. For example, Li's brother, who died of an acute heart attack at the beginning of the movie, appears in the form of a corpse. As Li said to his nephew, it's not like he's asleep, he's not your father anymore. But in the subsequent narrative, from the time he told Li who left Manchester to call him or call the police, to the time when he took the children to visit Li and buy furniture for Li, to the conversation between everyone and Li about his death Li’s regret and concern, as well as his reaction when he first learned that he was terminally ill in Li’s memory... Although the weight is not large, the image of a responsible, responsible and humorous brother is presented in a very full and three-dimensional manner. . Similar blank spaces, like the gloomy winter sky in Manchester in the movie, set off the whole atmosphere, and it can't be lowered.
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