2016 prides itself on being a "little year of cinema.". There have hardly been a few movies that have caused a sensation in the soul.
Even if you jump out of the country and look at the world, 2016 is still not a good harvest, especially after the announcement of the Oscar nomination list of the strongest voice in the awards season, the "film year" is even more endless.
In addition to "City of Philharmonic Music", "Moonlight Boy" that detonated the circle of friends in Europe and the United States, and "Blood Battle Hacksaw Ridge" and "Arrival", which have logged on the domestic big screen and have a good reputation. Notable reputation.
But there is a movie that has been overlooked. Even after two years of release, very few people have seen it.
It is a great honor that it is in the top 50 of Douban, and the rotten tomatoes praise rate has soared.
It is not as youthful and energetic as "City of Philharmonic", nor as poetic and cosy as "Moonlight Boy"; not as impressive as "Arrival", nor as touching as "Hacksaw Ridge".
When a sad past becomes the whole of a person's life, then this is the real beginning of tragedy.
It ignores the rules, disdains routines, opposes all whitewashing; it allows you to sink deeper and deeper, not to give hope, not to leave a way out, to go all the way.
I would like to say that even after two years, this film is still so brilliant. It's Manchester by the Sea.
Manchester by the Sea is a feature film directed by Kenneth Ronagan and starring Cassie Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler and others. The film was released in the United States on November 18, 2016.
"Manchester by the Sea" originated in Sundance, fermented in Toronto, and has received six Oscar nominations including best picture, director, original screenplay, actor, supporting actress, and supporting actor. The film won the 2016 Motion Picture Association of America Top Ten Films. In June 2017, he won the Oscar for Best Independent Film Trailer in the Trailer Industry.
The film was released on August 25, 2017 in Chinese mainland. But helplessly, many people missed this good film.
Douban scored 8.6, which is the biggest compliment to this movie.
Among them, the male lead actor Cassie Affleck is the best Oscar actor in my heart.
It's a story about how to get out of pain and resolve grief
The film tells roughly the story of Lee Chandler's brother who took care of his nephew as a guardian after he died of illness.
Lee Chandler was a taciturn man who worked endlessly in Boston doing all sorts of chores.
Working as a cleaner and handyman in an apartment building in Boston, he lived a trivial life, had a withdrawn personality, and had no emotional communication with his surroundings.
But it seemed like just an excuse for him to escape the past and hide his grief, and even when he received the news that his beloved brother Joe had died of a heart attack, his serious and gloomy face did not add more sadness.
After his brother became seriously ill and endangered, Li had to return to his long-lost hometown, leaving him with the cold corpse of his brother and a rebellious nephew of adolescence.
After returning to his long-abandoned hometown of Manchester, he found himself named the guardian of his nephew Patrick.
Lee Chandler was reluctant to move back to his hometown, where too many memories were, while his nephew Patrick was reluctant to abandon his life and friends and leave Lee away.
Manchester is located in the northeast of Boston, USA, with a small population, surrounded by coasts, gentle waters, and beautiful scenery.
The town here, although it is not how prosperous it is, but the harmony between people can be seen from the face.
Seeing this, I can't help but ask; the male protagonist in the movie. What kind of person is this?
The film opens with the male protagonist's various busyness, helping others shovel snow, repairing lights, and opening sewers... Someone wanted to sleep with him, and someone complained about him. He didn't pay any attention
He was just a worker, focused on his job, not talking to anyone more. Drinking in the bar, just because he felt that the two men on the other side were staring at him, he beat the people for no reason, and the result was that the nose and face of the beating were swollen. But next time, he'll do that...
In the eyes of his neighbors, he was a little, a young man who did not learn and did not learn any skills.
Cold, rude, silent, lonely
The male protagonist is like the walking dead, losing hope in life. But in the face of all kinds of difficult events, he must also maintain a rational and cool head. He had to live, to help his nephew solve all kinds of practical problems. Despite living a terrible life.
No one thought that this decadent middle-aged man once had a happy family, 2 women and 1 man and three children, but in one night, he and his friends drank too much, after his wife drove away his friends, he built a fire and added firewood to the family, and then went to the convenience store to buy things. Forgetting to seal the fire screen, the firewood in the stove caused a fire, and his wife was rescued, but all three children were burned alive.
He personally ruined his good life, and even attempted suicide at one point. It is estimated that no one can bear such an encounter, so he chose to leave and stay away from this sad place.
Letting go is not an easy task, and it is in this tangled emotion and dilemma.
Through clever turning points, the film quietly transitions between two time and space, the sparkling sea in summer, the cold streets in winter, and the songs and laughter of the past.
Today's heart is like ashes, cross-handed, and the sharp contrast shows mercilessly how a man fell from heaven to hell, how to sink into the quagmire, and how to get out of sorrow.
That's right, he never came out of his grief.
The male protagonist takes care of his nephew while dealing with the aftermath. However, the nephew could not fully understand, because of the repair of the ship, because of the funeral, because of whether to leave, the two men quarreled continuously, and there were differences and contradictions.
He wanted to leave with his nephew, but he didn't want to transfer. In this familiar place he has his own friends, girlfriends, and his own team and band, and if he leaves, it will be tantamount to disrupting the normal life of his children; but if he moves back to live, he will not be able to pass his own level, and he also tries to compromise for his nephew, find a job in the local area, but the job cannot be found, and he is ostracized and ridiculed by the people in the town.
This is life, even if you face the setbacks of a thousand arrows through the heart, you still have to go all the way.
At the same time, the brother's ex-wife also came to try to contact the son, trying to regain custody of his nephew. The male protagonist also "fought" with this, vowing to die and not let others take away his nephew. Gradually, he discovered the presence of his loved ones.
For the past release, the resurgence of old feelings, the advent of new love, all the beautiful future that this poor man has placed in the process of watching the movie, all of them have not happened, and even the "most correct" return to family affection has not been completed in the end, Li did not serve as the guardian of his nephew, but fostered him in the home of an acquaintance, and went to other places to continue to drift.
The biggest charm of "Manchester by the Sea" is that although there is no positive component in the whole process, it is negative, depressed and even a little anti-value. But it is such a "three no movie", but after watching it, it was greatly addicted. Are you negative? No, after watching the whole movie, the whole person feels that he loves life more and cherishes the life in front of him
Much of the success of "Manchester by the Sea" is due to Cassie's performance, and the sentimental tone and melancholy of the film coincide with Cassie's experience and characteristics.
Once Li was energetic and enthusiastic, but now his heart is closed, refusing to be thousands of miles away, and the two extreme emotions are properly interpreted by Cassie. In fact, the role that can test the actor's acting skills the most is this transformation of the two sides of human nature, strong and decadent, so that the audience can penetrate the hearts of the people.
But Cassie, nicknamed "Face Paralysis", is really not paralyzed. The work of the Emperor of Shadows is by no means overnight.
The biggest feeling that the film brings to us is that although the ending is not perfect, this is not our original life
The film is filled with a heartbreaking emotion from beginning to end, and the director spreads out the plot bit by bit like tearing a pocket, and then injects this indescribable emotion evenly into the entire story framework. So what the audience ends up seeing is not a story, but a presentation of alternating emotions and details.
In addition, I have to say that the Oscar movie really awarded the award to the most lifelong people.