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Manchester by the Sea poster

Manchester by the Sea

year 2016decade 10sdirector Kenneth Lonergangenre Drama

137 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Casey Affleck Lee Chandler
Michelle Williams Randi Chandler
Lucas Hedges Patrick Chandler
Kyle Chandler Joe Chandler
C. J. Wilson George
Tate Donovan Hockey Coach
Josh Hamilton Wes (Joe’s Lawyer)
Gretchen Mol Elise

Manchester by the Sea | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryanhost Sean Fennesseyproducer Craig Horlbeck theme Rock Bottom Month
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Roger Ebert's review

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The panel is imagining how this might look in the future.

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:30:20Read transcript
  • A four-star response is predicted because the story, characters and performances fit what the late critic valued.

Most Rewatchable Scene

The hill encounter; fire and police-station aftermath; “I can’t beat it”; post-fight collapse; freezer panic; funeral; burial argument; janitor opening; hockey.

In the discussion (14)
Approx. transcript time · 00:31:56Read transcript
  • The plumbing visit and neighbor fight efficiently establish a lonely janitor whose life is at rock bottom.
  • Patrick’s hockey return is praised for the rink, coach and mix of sympathy with discipline.
  • Basement banter and the angry late-night dismissal turn abruptly into the fire, while the flashback structure withholds the fireplace action.
  • The silent theater response, police interview, attempted use of a police gun and absence of criminal blame make the fire aftermath the strongest rock-bottom candidate.
  • The burial-plot and parking argument is funny, purposeful and reveals that Patrick and Lee need one another.
  • The dialogue-free funeral and unexpected breakdown are praised as visual acting supported by classical music.
  • The hill encounter is called one of the century’s best scenes for its acting, withheld history and apology dialogue.
  • The quiet breakdown in a friend’s wife’s arms becomes a competing emotional favorite after the bar fight.
  • Patrick’s freezer panic is identified as his sole meltdown; his next-day recovery is treated as realistic for a thick-skinned teenager.
  • Streep is accepted as capable of the hill performance, while Hathaway is explicitly rejected.
  • Jessica Lang is offered as another possible hill-scene performer; the machine-transcript rendering is retained without independently normalizing the identity.
  • Emma Stone is questioned as a hill-scene alternative because she rarely performs this kind of hard, straight drama.
  • Jennifer Lawrence, specifically through the uncertain comparison to her Winter’s Bone performance, is raised without a firm conclusion.
  • The repeated words “I can’t beat it” are praised for expressing the entire movie and the only direct statement about the trauma.

What’s Aged the Best?

The acting company, Massachusetts attitude and accents, Amazon’s film investment, score, boats, local details and Gretchen Mol.

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:50:57Read transcript
  • Josh Hamilton and Lonergan’s theater company are praised, including the continuing stage relationships.
  • Affleck’s dead-eyed New England anger, two bar fights, impatient driving and brief local-sports details are enjoyed.
  • Amazon Studios is credited with putting money into screenplays and actors during a useful early run.
  • The score is called very good.
  • Having a boat looks appealing in the movie despite upkeep and immediate depreciation objections.
  • The self-harm reaction image and a Bridge Nine Records flag are cited as lasting cultural and local details.
  • Gretchen is praised as a strong character actress after one participant admits earlier doubt.
  • The accent scores are Affleck ten, Gretchen nine, Williams nine, Hedges seven, Chandler three, Donovan roughly two to four, an unnamed local nineteen, and Wilson at least eight after being mistaken for a local.

The Slow Ride / Kid Cudi – Pursuit of Happiness Award for Best Needle Drop

Stentorian’s garage song; Bob Dylan’s “Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts.”

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:58:25Read transcript
  • Stentorian’s first garage song is nominated even while the band is mocked.
  • For Rock Bottom Month, the award is jokingly reframed as whether adding “Pursuit of Happiness” would improve or worsen the movie.
  • “Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts” is also called a very good needle drop.

The Great Shot Gordo Award for Most Cinematic Shot

The final backs-to-camera shot; hill and ball; hill encounter; crowded bar fight.

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:58:58Read transcript
  • The last backs-to-camera shot and the hill with the lost ball are selected.
  • The slanted hill composition places one character lower, while two-shots and the crowded bar fight are praised as efficient and painterly.

Van Lathan Award for Did This Movie Need More Black People?

No, given the North Shore setting.

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:00:25Read transcript
  • A laudatory review is described as devoting its final section to race, white male characters and white working-class withdrawal.
  • The interpretation is called interesting but invented, and the setting is defended as a place with very few Black residents.

The Butch’s Girlfriend Award for the Weakest Link in the Film

The mother escaping first; excessive driving; Patrick’s lack of empathy, disputed as realistic.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:11Read transcript
  • The mother’s escape while the children remain inside is difficult to accept, even given her downstairs sleeping location and sinus explanation.
  • The amount of driving and chauffeuring is criticized.
  • Patrick’s failure to recognize what returning home does to Lee strains credibility, though teenage narcissism and his father’s death are offered as a counterargument.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Off-screen controversy; emotional aftermath; double polo shirts; criticism of the classical cue; the unfilmed whale-watching ending.

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:05:06Read transcript
  • Affleck’s off-screen controversy is said to have overshadowed the performance.
  • Trying to do anything social after watching the film remains difficult even on later viewings.
  • Tate Donovan wearing two polos is called outrageous.
  • Contemporary complaints that the Adagio in G minor was overused are themselves criticized because the older film examples were decades earlier.
  • Damon reports that a planned joyful family whale-watching flashback required difficult boat, whale and drone photography and was not filmed after the production ran out of money.
  • Damon is jokingly blamed for not contributing his own money to preserve the unfilmed ending.

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

The wife shares half the blame; a great four-film career is enough.

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:08:23Read transcript
  • A reader’s proposed rename commemorating the Luke Wilson and Harrison Ford comparison is enthusiastically accepted.
  • The hottest take assigns the wife half the blame because of the heat, fireplace screen and escape circumstances, while still acknowledging the husband is not blameless.
  • The opposing response emphasizes intoxication, drugs and a late-night alcohol trip before the blame discussion moves on.
  • A lower-stakes take argues that a genius ending with only four movies can still have an excellent career.

Casting What-Ifs

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:11:22Read transcript
  • After Damon could not play the lead, the role was steered to Affleck; using Damon as the brother is proposed as an improvement.
  • Chalamet reportedly auditioned for Patrick and did not get the role.
  • Hedges is preferred to Chalamet for frame, class background and Massachusetts credibility, despite both actors’ New York backgrounds.
  • Krasinski is reported as connected to the original idea and initially floated for the role before Lonergan completed the film.
  • Krasinski remains an uncertain dramatic fit because this kind of acting had not been seen from him, though A Quiet Place is offered as reason not to rule him out; Affleck’s Gone Baby Gone work supplies a contrasting precedent.

Recasting Couch

Damon or Ben Affleck in supporting roles; J. Smith-Cameron in several smaller roles.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:11:41Read transcript
  • Damon is proposed for the older brother or the Broderick part, and Ben Affleck for the older brother; celebrity distraction is the main objection.
  • Ben Affleck is also jokingly imagined as the stranger confronted at the bar.
  • The director’s wife is proposed for the angry local woman, the friend’s wife or Sandy’s mother.

Is This Movie Better With…?

Chris from The Town, Vincent Hanna or Sergeant Dignam.

In the discussion (13)
Approx. transcript time · 01:14:55Read transcript
  • Thanos is jokingly offered while the hosts test-drive the add-one-character category; he is not accepted as the result.
  • Chris from The Town is imagined meeting Lee at a bar.
  • Vincent Hanna is imagined conducting the police interview.
  • Wayne Jenkins is retained as a named candidate in the recurring better-with prompt.
  • “Danny Treo” is retained exactly as rendered by the machine transcript as a named candidate; the possible identity is not independently normalized.
  • Sam Jackson is retained as a named candidate in the recurring better-with prompt.
  • J. T. Walsh is retained as a named candidate in the recurring better-with prompt.
  • Byron Mayo is retained exactly as rendered by the machine transcript as a candidate; the identity is not independently normalized.
  • Harley Mays is retained exactly as rendered by the machine transcript as a candidate; the identity is not independently normalized.
  • The machine transcript renders another entry as “evil laughing, Ramon Raymond”; that uncertain candidate wording is preserved without inferring an identity.
  • “Philip Bakerall” is retained exactly as rendered by the machine transcript as a named candidate; the possible identity is not independently normalized.
  • Sergeant Dignam from The Departed is proposed as the hockey coach and enthusiastically accepted.
  • Chris from The Town is considered for addition to the recurring fictional-character pool.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Lonergan crying on set; Hedges’s silent-day preparation; an unscripted ambulance-gurney problem.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:17:13Read transcript
  • Williams reportedly said the director cried during heavier scenes.
  • Hedges reportedly avoided speaking all day to build energy before the freezer breakdown.
  • The ambulance crew’s trouble loading the gurney was reportedly unscripted and retained.

Apex Mountain

Casey Affleck, Kenneth Lonergan and the town of Manchester-by-the-Sea.

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 01:18:47Read transcript
  • Affleck is placed at his apex because the performance won the Oscar.
  • Lonergan is also placed at his apex for the Oscar and commercial success; the familiar “Kenny” announcement is recalled.
  • Williams is rejected for apex. Fosse/Verdon and Blue Valentine are proposed, and her run is recalled as the machine-transcribed “So, Necta Key New York,” Wendy and Lucy, Blue Valentine, Shutter Island, “Meeks cut off,” My Week with “Maryland” (with uncertainty about an Oscar nomination), Take This Waltz and Manchester by the Sea. Shutter Island is specifically remembered as having a very similar plot line.
  • Venom is jokingly offered as Williams’s apex and immediately treated as a joke rather than the result.
  • The town of Manchester-by-the-Sea is declared to be at its apex.
  • The speakers report that the town was long called Manchester, legally changed its name in the late 1980s, and may have done so partly for tourism or distinction from Manchester in England.
  • The movie is not yet declared the apex of Rock Bottom movies because it contains too much comedy.
  • Hedges is rejected despite the nomination and career importance; a hypothetical career swap with Chalamet is dismissed.
  • Chandler is rejected, and North Shore movies are compared through The Perfect Storm and the film transcribed as Cota.

Cruise or Hanks?

Tom Hanks for the lead.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:23:42Read transcript
  • The newly introduced category asks whether prime Cruise or Hanks should take the lead, and Hanks is the initial answer.
  • A younger Cruise is enthusiastically proposed for Patrick because of the girlfriends, hockey and band, but this is recognized as an end run around the lead-role question.
  • An early-career Hanks is selected for Lee, with agreement that Hanks beats Cruise for the lead.

Picking Nits

Package-store hours; missing hockey; guardianship notice; frozen burial plot; town economics; omitted family history; Patrick’s empathy and secret girlfriends.

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:26:13Read transcript
  • A Massachusetts package store being open around three in the morning is rejected; small stores and gas stations would close by eleven.
  • More hockey and a Bruins game are desired, partly to show Joe and Lee connecting beyond the boat.
  • Not telling Lee ahead of time that he would be the guardian is questioned, then defended because he would have said no.
  • Choosing a burial plot frozen for months is questioned, then treated as a writerly thaw metaphor.
  • The town is considered more upscale than depicted, and an additional flashback showing the mother drunk is desired.
  • Patrick’s failure to give Lee a break remains an objection even after the teenage-self-absorption defense.
  • The two girlfriends would probably discover each other quickly through school and early Instagram; one may tolerate it more than the other.

Just One Oscar

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:32:39Read transcript
  • Lonergan is selected over Affleck from the film’s two actual Oscar winners; Williams is proposed but not chosen.
  • Taking the supporting Oscar from the Fences performance is rejected, and a Cruise-or-Hanks joke for that film follows.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Stentorian’s album; condom guidance; Broderick’s supporting roles; the Celtics–Mavs game.

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:33:23Read transcript
  • Whether Stentorian released an album is asked and answered no, with parties considered plausible.
  • Patrick’s condom difficulty prompts a question about absent parental guidance and whether fathers discuss application.
  • Broderick’s long run of strange, sniveling side characters is questioned and tentatively explained by stage work and freedom to choose small parts.
  • The Celtics–Mavs game is identified as November 18, 2015, with a 106–102 score and several player totals reported.

What Piece of Memorabilia Would You Want From This Movie?

The boat, fireplace screen, sweatshirts or Dugout Cafe shirt.

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:36:17Read transcript
  • The initial answer is nothing, followed by the boat if ownership costs do not count.
  • A new fit-through-a-door rule prompts the fireplace screen, Lee’s sweatshirts and the Dugout Cafe shirt as alternatives.

The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson

Sometimes you can’t beat it; don’t bring distractions onto the ice.

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:36:45Read transcript
  • The first lesson is that sometimes you cannot beat what happened.
  • The second lesson is not to bring a distraction onto the ice.

Who Won the Movie?

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:38:21Read transcript
  • Lonergan is selected as the winner, with a wish that he make another film soon.
  • A second viewing is judged much better because foreknowledge allows appreciation of pace, editing and filmmaking; the movie is rated ten out of ten but another viewing is doubted.
Podcast choices

More from the conversation

The hosts introduce the three participants, connect the episode to football and podcast banter, and explicitly launch Rock Bottom Month with Manchester by the Sea as its lead and ultimate rock-bottom movie.
Approx. transcript time · 00:01:54Read transcript
The 2016 Best Picture field is praised, and a named list of strong 21st-century Best Picture non-winners includes Brokeback Mountain, There Will Be Blood, The Dark Knight, The Social Network, The Wolf of Wall Street, La La Land, Manchester by the Sea, Get Out and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Approx. transcript time · 00:04:19Read transcript
Manchester by the Sea is contrasted with Anchorman and Million Dollar Baby: it is not easy comfort viewing, but its humor, Patrick–Lee banter and kinship with Damon–Affleck human dramas such as Good Will Hunting draw the hosts back.
Approx. transcript time · 00:05:13Read transcript
A later viewing reveals visual filmmaking and humor obscured by the first viewing’s emotional force. The performance ensemble is praised by name: Lucas Hedges, Michelle Williams, Casey Affleck, Kyle Chandler and Gretchen Mol.
Approx. transcript time · 00:06:14Read transcript
Moonlight is valued for changing the pattern of Best Picture winners; Manchester is described as the emotionally resonant fourth-place finisher; La La Land is one speaker’s least-favorite Chazelle film despite its ambition. All three are called classics.
Approx. transcript time · 00:07:41Read transcript
Amazon’s acquisition and continuing availability, dark memes, and the film’s unusually forceful treatment of grief are offered as reasons its life has continued.
Approx. transcript time · 00:08:36Read transcript
Lonergan is paraphrased as arguing that people unable to get over major events deserve a movie. You Can Count on Me is compared through siblings who lost their parents; Margaret through a young woman who witnesses and feels implicated in a fatal bus accident; Manchester through an unsurpassable personal catastrophe.
Approx. transcript time · 00:09:22Read transcript
You Can Count on Me is noted as a Ruffalo breakout and Laura Linney showcase. Margaret’s post-production ordeal and eventual director’s version are contrasted with Manchester’s long development after Krasinski and Damon brought Lonergan the idea.
Approx. transcript time · 00:10:56Read transcript
The screenplay’s lived-in lines are praised because even apparent throwaways return to the film’s major themes, despite a compressed and difficult shoot.
Approx. transcript time · 00:11:56Read transcript
One viewing memory describes being crushed in a theater; another cites prior affection for You Can Count on Me, Damon’s enthusiasm, the casting counterfactual and interest in the North Shore setting.
Approx. transcript time · 00:12:32Read transcript
Affleck’s career is traced from 1990s roles through the Ocean’s films, 2007 acclaim and a later lull. His withdrawn performance is contrasted with Damon’s screen charisma and imagined as difficult for Damon to reproduce.
Approx. transcript time · 00:13:23Read transcript
Damon’s friendship with and belief in Lonergan are tied to the Krasinski–Damon story idea, time given to write it, and Damon’s reported efforts to fund and support Margaret during Lonergan’s financial difficulties.
Approx. transcript time · 00:15:19Read transcript
Margaret’s six-year legal ordeal is compared with the career trauma attributed to Paul Brickman after Risky Business. Lonergan contrasts that turmoil with Manchester’s 30-day shoot, trusted Damon backing and ability to cut the film himself.
Approx. transcript time · 00:15:46Read transcript
For You Can Count on Me, Lonergan reportedly protected final cut by bringing Martin Scorsese aboard as executive producer with that authority.
Approx. transcript time · 00:16:32Read transcript
A producer opposed to Lonergan during Margaret is uncertainly identified in the conversation as “Dan Gilbert’s brother”; the machine-transcript identity is not normalized. The dispute is blamed for an approximately eleven-year gap and only one intervening film before Manchester.
Approx. transcript time · 00:17:26Read transcript
Lonergan is compared with stage-to-screen writers Mamet and Tom Stoppard and with writer-director Alexander Payne. His script-doctor work and ability to add jokes even to sad films are praised.
Approx. transcript time · 00:18:08Read transcript
Lonergan’s acting is discussed through his sarcastic “nice parenting” appearance, his priest role in You Can Count on Me, and an uncertain suggestion that he may cameo in Margaret.
Approx. transcript time · 00:19:07Read transcript
Margaret’s extended-cut DVD was passed among viewers as a hard-to-find “secret movie”; its later availability, beauty and emotionally abstract difficulty are contrasted with Manchester’s direct tragedy.
Approx. transcript time · 00:19:20Read transcript
Williams is described through a damaged-spouse trio of Brokeback Mountain, Blue Valentine and Manchester. Her roughly twelve minutes are compared with Anthony Hopkins’s compact impact, while both her fire-night performance and later transformation are praised.
Approx. transcript time · 00:20:17Read transcript
Williams’s five Oscar nominations are explicitly split into three lead and two supporting nominations. A possible supporting strategy for The Fabelmans and Viola Davis’s winning Fences performance are discussed; Lonergan’s original-screenplay win over La La Land and Affleck’s Best Actor win are also named.
Approx. transcript time · 00:21:09Read transcript
Affleck’s award-season momentum is contrasted with off-screen controversy, his later withdrawal from presenting, a period described as the wilderness, and a notable return in Oppenheimer.
Approx. transcript time · 00:21:47Read transcript
Hedges’s post-film path includes Mid90s, described as among one speaker’s son’s favorite movies, stage work and a Brokeback Mountain theater performance. He is compared with Chalamet among actors expected to become major stars in their twenties during the 2020s, while Shirley is described as his first film in five years and the speakers remain explicitly unsure whether he wants a film career.
Approx. transcript time · 00:22:27Read transcript
A nine-million-dollar budget, seventy-nine-million-dollar gross and ten-million-dollar Amazon acquisition are reported. The shoot raced the end of winter, while a producer’s contemporary warning predicted streamers would eventually stop accumulating small titles.
Approx. transcript time · 00:23:10Read transcript
The hosts explain why recent films usually need distance, then describe a tearful plane rewatch. The movie’s avoidance of explicit emotional conversations and its hard cut from the hill encounter to a bar fight are praised as purposeful structure.
Approx. transcript time · 00:24:55Read transcript
Ordinary People is used as a sad-film comparison and an inverse: Lonergan’s characters carry tragedy without directly explaining it, and the film cuts from the hill confrontation to the bar fight instead of allowing an explicit emotional conversation.
Approx. transcript time · 00:26:19Read transcript
Very sad entertainment is discussed as deliberate mood viewing through Grey’s Anatomy, Love Story and Brian’s Song, whose tragic outcomes are known in advance.
Approx. transcript time · 00:27:59Read transcript
The prior “Fucked Up Family February” joke is compared with Rock Bottom Month. A younger producer rejects the month’s appeal and says he does not seek fear or sadness from movies.
Approx. transcript time · 00:28:38Read transcript
The hosts contrast a younger generation’s direct expression of feelings with older bottled-up habits and use Fields of Dreams and Kramer vs. Kramer as examples of movies used to process fathers and divorce.
Approx. transcript time · 00:29:10Read transcript
A parenting example about asking children to name their feelings is contrasted with an older childhood instruction to stand aside and stay quiet.
Approx. transcript time · 00:29:53Read transcript
The burial and parking argument is praised as purposeful character interaction. Patrick and Lee need each other; Hedges makes an abrasive teenage role funny. The silent funeral, classical score and an unscripted emotional breakdown are also praised.
Approx. transcript time · 00:38:44Read transcript
The unseen collapse of the marriage and the mother’s incomplete recovery are treated as powerful omissions: apology dialogue lets viewers imagine the missing confrontations instead of showing them.
Approx. transcript time · 00:43:47Read transcript
Josh Hamilton and Lonergan’s recurring theater collaborators lead to praise for several Broadway revivals and a reported formative relationship with Broderick’s mother.
Approx. transcript time · 00:50:57Read transcript
A New York Times review is summarized as reading race into an otherwise laudatory account of location and white working-class withdrawal. The hosts find the theory unusual and reject adding Black characters merely to change the North Shore setting.
Approx. transcript time · 01:00:25Read transcript
A restrained counterpoint to the blame debate argues that a great filmmaker ending with only a few films can still be enough, contrasting slow output with directors who make movies rapidly.
Approx. transcript time · 01:10:21Read transcript
Lonergan’s description of the movie as grief and loyalty prompts discussion of obligations among relatives and friends. Joe’s support of Lee, George’s guardianship and the decision not to warn Lee are read through loyalty rather than easy chemistry.
Approx. transcript time · 01:27:25Read transcript
A life-lesson joke turns into personal stories about wanting to coach friends’ children and being denied a school coaching role; the tangent is not treated as a film category result.
Approx. transcript time · 01:37:07Read transcript
A second viewing is rated much more highly because knowing the tragedy permits attention to editing, pace and filmmaking. Removing three devastating scenes would reveal a very funny coming-of-age comedy beneath the tragedy.
Approx. transcript time · 01:38:50Read transcript
The film’s trailer is recalled as emphasizing funny material. The hosts discuss the power of older trailers and explicitly propose trailers as a future Rewatchables category.
Approx. transcript time · 01:40:10Read transcript