Text: h
"Manchester by the Sea" is not really a mainstream movie, and even a little bit of a stream of consciousness, the time is long, in 137 minutes, the whole picture presents a cool tone, and even the soundtrack is a little gloomy and cold. Anti-chicken soup, alternating montage editing techniques can make the entire character image jump sharply on this gentle tone.
Human character can be changed, especially after experiencing major trauma and irreversible grief, so that lee understands the alienated, almost cruel, and violent speech and behavior that Lee presents at the beginning of the film.
Interspersed with jumping shots, although the previous Lee has been a father of 3 children, he still plays like a teenager, loves to joke with his nephew, will spoil his wife, and has a group of friends who can play until late at night. But a sudden accident has turned Lee's life and even fate upside down.
His 3 angelic cute children were killed in a fire, the youngest was still in his infancy, and the initiator of this unintentional transgression was Lee.
The fire not only took away Lee's house and wife and children, but also took away Lee's seemingly beating but exhausted heart. He no longer had hope in life, like a walking corpse. It wasn't that I had inadvertently trampled my own pets, but flesh and blood that would stick out my hands and hold out my hands to embrace.
What an emptiness and grief this should be.
Lee had no way to forgive himself, nor did he want to reconcile with his mistakes, but turned to the most extreme path, suppressed and avoided, and completely closed himself off. Later, at his brother's funeral, he saw his ex-wife's bulging belly, and he lowered his eyes deeply.
The photographs of the three children are still upright at the head of the bed, and he can't do it, can't start a new life with heavy sins on his back.
I didn't expect to meet my ex-wife again on the road. The petite woman cried silently, apologetically advising him not to go down any longer, lee seemed very overwhelmed, he said: Nothing in there, the translation of the version I read, has passed.
But I think he wants to say, you don't understand, it's useless, life is already like this, it's depressed or depraved, it's empty there.
So when his nephew asked him why he couldn't stay, he said with some weakness and pain, I can't hold on.
This city by the sea is like incriminating evidence, tormenting Lee's broken heart all the time, dreaming of his daughter dragging sadly and saying Daddy, don't you see us on fire?
At that moment, this stoic and restrained man' taut nerves finally collapsed.
At the end of the film, there is no happy reconciliation with the past, Lee still chooses to leave Manchester, some people say that he escapes from reality and refuses to reconcile with the hurts of the past, but I think he is undoubtedly brave, dares to face his pain, truly admits his mistakes, and really punishes himself.
Some people are still alive because there are still things in the world that are blinding to death, while some people choose not to die because their hearts are completely alienated from life, and death cannot liberate and wash away sins and delay suffering.
But the clip that touched me the most was not about Lee, but about his nephew Patrick, who, when he heard the news of his father's death, acted unhurriedly, joined the band as usual, lingered with two girlfriends, but broke down crying at the sight of frozen chicken breasts one late at night, and he said to Lee, I can't imagine that my dad was frozen in the freezer.
Lee and Patrick are essentially the same, in the face of life's sudden blows, repression and avoidance become priorities, but always subconsciously touched by small things to sensitive nerves.
The choice of life is not one-sided subjective to define. In the face of pain, someone chooses to accept it, heal it, and eventually be willing to start all over again. But some choose to freeze their lives there, wrapped up in pain and numbness for the rest of their lives.
The important thing is not to be cured, but to live with the pain. Camus once said this. Since life is a foregone conclusion, when letting go of oneself has become a kind of torture, it is not a blessing to go down with regret and pain.