Pseudo bad news: the cinemas are screening more excellent films than you have time to see. Manchester by the Sea has the same kind of effect on you as reading a brilliant novel.
This film treats profound subjects such as the failings of parents, resisting the slings and arrows that life can sometimes throw at you, and the deep mourning that is a much more ferocious beast than the shrinks would have you believe. Fortunately, these weighty themes are never explored at the expense of the intimacy and familiarity of the characters, their behaviour, and their debilitating pain. The visual composition and mise-en-scène exude an attractive grandeur.
The only minor flaws are the fragments of classical music that make the drama unnecessarily cerebral. Casey Affleck's restrained performance is suggestive of fathomless sadness, complexity, smouldering rage, and pained powerlessness. He deserves an Oscar, you deserve the time to watch this glacial tragedy on a human scale.
> Manchester by the sea. US, 2016, dir.: Kenneth Lonergan, act.: Casy Affleck, Kyle Chandler, Michelle Williams, 137 min.
> UGC Gulden Vlies/Toison d'Or, Vendôme
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