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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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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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
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