Manchester by the Sea - Hated It

Stars: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, and Lucas Hedges
Run Time: 2 hours, 17 minutes

The Movie

​Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) is a man living in Boston and working as a Janitor. It’s pretty obvious that he is a drunkard that is down on his luck. He soon gets a phone call informing him that his brother had passed away, he had been dealing with a heart defect for the past ten years, and it finally took him. That day he drove to Manchester to make funeral arrangements and take care of his nephew, Patrick (Lucas Hedges). Being back in Manchester though is not easy for Lee, this is where his life fell apart and everything is a painful memory.

Throughout the movie there are many flashbacks as to what happened to Lee all those years ago, and how his life use to be. Lee was once married with three kids. One day his house burnt to the ground killing his three kids. It’s discovered that it’s his fault, but ultimately it was just an unhappy accident. Still, his wife couldn’t forgive and this is where he started being depressed and a loner. Being back in Manchester, he runs into his ex-wife, Randi (Michelle Williams) and many other people from his past.  He quickly realizes he can’t handle life in Manchester and wants to take Patrick back to Boston with him. Of course, Patrick doesn’t want to leave his life behind, so a difficult decision must be made as to 

what would happen next. 
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Can someone else adopt him? Where is his mother? Is she even able to take him? Or should Lee just make Patrick come to Boston? There are so many options, even though it's evident that Lee wants to be the one to take care of Patrick. 

​Liked Its & Hated Its

The acting was pretty good in this movie, and I liked how it was shot along with the scenery that was shown. Movies like this always make me want to move somewhere by the water, it's beautiful. I didn't like much about this film other than that though. It was somber the entire time, and fairly boring. I definitely did not like the ending... if you can even call it that. I also didn't like the run time, for a film with this story-line, it could have definitely been down in less that two hours. 

​Rating

I got to give this movie a "Hated It." I know that it received six nominations for the Oscars, and yes the acting and the filmography is good, but I can't get on board with this movie. It was extremely slow, extremely boring, and extremely long. I was so happy when it was over (regardless of that fact that I hated the way it abruptly ended) because I just wanted to go home. 
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