Affleck plays Lee Chandler, a janitor in suburban Boston who lives a reserved, almost monotonous life with stresses at work and a tendency to get involved with fights in bars. He finds himself unexpectedly responsible for his teenage nephew Patrick (Lucas Hedges) back in his home town of Manchester By the Sea. The film charts the grieving process for both the current situation and previous heartbreaks involving his ex-wife Randi (Michelle Williams) who still has strong ties with the wider family.
The film is almost choking with grief, emptiness and sadness. It is a character in its own right and is demonstrated beautifully by Affleck who has made the haunting lost look, that is so difficult to achieve, his own. The story feels very genuine with a clearly overwhelmed Lee who wants to do the right thing by his nephew but really has no clue if he's doing the right thing at all. I loved that Patrick was prepared to milk the grief to get what he wanted which most teenagers would in that situation. The relationship between uncle and nephew was beautifully portrayed and felt exactly as an adult and adolescent would normally interact.
I have two main criticisms of this film; the first is that there is far too much music. Normally film music is a joy and can really help dictate the pace of a film. However in this case, it was far too much of a distraction and it didn't added anything to the film. The cinematography and natural flow was good enough that it didn't require any additional music.
My second criticism was that there was not enough of Randi in this this film. I really wanted to know more about what had happened to her in the period that Lee was away and felt that she was sidelined when there was clearly more of a story to be told.
Verdict: A really good film about grief, families and trying to do the right thing. Affleck thoroughly deserves the accolades and nominations that he's currently receiving, however the music is an unwelcome distraction from an otherwise very well made film.
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