Manchester by The Sea by Kenneth Lonergan – another perspective on this film is here http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/note-on-manchester-by-sea-writer.html - 10 out of 10

 

Manchester by The Sea by Kenneth Lonergan – another perspective on this film is here http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/note-on-manchester-by-sea-writer.html

10 out of 10

 

 

Manchester by The Sea has been aired recently again, on one of the many film channels that we now have (Alhamdulillah) and if the first time I was not exhilarated, hypnotized in a trance, then the more recent encounter was really enchanting, it could well have to do with the furor surrounding Casey Affleck.

 

In 2017, when Casey Affleck was nominated and then he won the Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, there was some backlash because of some things he had done in the past – he had not slapped anyone at a previous Oscars Ceremony, like Will Smith, but still it was bad

Hence, although the movie is excellent, there has been some reserve, due to the fact that, well, if the artist that is supposed to present you with a story for which you have to feel sympathy, if not empathy, then some pity has this background (it looked a major) problem, then there is distance, some rejection

 

In The Unbearable Lightness of Being http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-unbearable-lightness-of-being-9-put.html the recently deceased Milan Kundera writes about the difference between pity, which involves an air of superiority, us being above the pitied, and empathy, which happens when we are all at the same level

Lee Chandler aka Casey Affleck is a tragic figure, no doubt about it, and as we gradually (or is it suddenly) find about his drama, we get to see that a troubled actor might know better how to handle such a complicated personage, if he is the main presence, he is also a sort of anti-hero, however much we feel some warmth for him

 

The young man finds that his dead brother has left a testament, which leaves him ‘in charge of’

Patrick, his nephew, and if he refuses to even contemplate that prospect, we also realize that the brother, Joe Chandler, has had an excellent idea, the responsibility, the need to act might save Lee, who is on a destructive path

This builds up in some ways as a sort of very smart detective story, since we do not know what is wrong with this fellow, why would he reject this notion of just guiding Patrick, who has only a couple of years left before being eighteen (if I am not mistaken), through some steps and then find satisfaction in that

I mean alright, young people these days (and for that matter, this is a terrible cliché, since mature folks keep complaining about the same thing) can be more than a handful, we have some in this gated community of ours that make your hair rise, what with fireworks, urinating on the street and so much more, but still, Lee could have at least expressed some doubts, hesitate, think about it, not look so appalled

 

Spoiler alert, as mentioned before, we move with the plot, and then find what was so absurd, impossible in the will, for Lee has been determined to either kill himself (he had tried, in the police station, with a gun stolen from a cop) or without that, to live as if this is the torture, punishment he has to endure

He is a janitor in Boston (again, some details are not clear, gone from my mind, but who is to object, not you I hope) and there is a moment when Patrick is infuriated, when the teenager is told that he has to move to the city, because this is where his legal guardian is, and he has a damn smart reply for his relative

 

‘Why don’t you move here, you are just a janitor, it is not like you could not find places to wash the floors and toilets in Manchester’ this is clearly no quote, but I hope there were words to this effect, even if this is not the problem, Lee does not give a penny for his work, he cares nothing for life now, that is the drama

As it is, with all the catastrophe that we see as the reason for Lee’s attitude, morosity, aloofness, pain, rejection of the will (well, he changes his mind and tries something, not really hard, to begin with) we do have some humor, mixed in all this trauma and PTSD aka Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which is taking the main character down

 

Patrick aka formidable Lucas Hedges is a very intelligent, pleasant, and sociable, well liked young man, who has…two girlfriends, he has sex with them, but it is not that easy to play with studies, two partners, and especially a morose, obtuse relative, who says he does not like one of the girls and is not cooperating, to use a euphemism

However, as the connection between them develops, Lee starts to offer some support, he even accepts (after much pushing, I think I remember) to cover for his nephew, and walks into the house of one of the girls, to spend some time with the mother, who seemed to fancy the lonely man, and invites him for a drink

 

While the two teenagers are preparing to have sex, with the knowledge that the uncle will keep mother busy, so she will not come upstairs every other ten minutes, as she always does when there are only the three of them in the house, Lee is acting as if he is an alien (which come to think of it, he is)

He does not respond in any way, and though it is amusing, for in the end, the mother walks up to the room of the naughty teenagers, saying she could not stand another minute, she is trying to talk to the wall, it is also deeply tragic, for we see this is a broken man, he takes no interest in what is otherwise a very charming woman…

 

 

Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world   – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

From To The Heritage:

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life. As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality. Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“the Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special. Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”

 

 

http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/10/note-on-you-can-count-on-me-writer.html