Acclaimed 'Manchester by the Sea' wins at National Board of Review Awards
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Molly Driscoll Staff writer
The drama 鈥淢anchester by the Sea,鈥� which stars Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams, is the best movie released in 2016, according to the National Board of Review, following a slew of positive reviews for the film.
鈥淢anchester鈥� centers on Lee Chandler, who goes back to his Massachusetts hometown after Lee鈥檚 brother (played by Kyle Chandler) dies in order to care for his nephew (Lucas Hedges).
The movie is directed and written by Kenneth Lonergan. The National Board of Review also honored him, naming Mr. Lonergan鈥檚 script as best original screenplay, while Mr. Affleck won the best actor prize.
鈥淢oonlight鈥� director Barry Jenkins received the award for best director, while Naomie Harris won the best supporting actress prize for her work in Mr. Jenkins鈥� film. Amy Adams won the best actress award for 鈥淎rrival,鈥� while Jeff Bridges won the best supporting actor award for the film 鈥淗ell or High Water.鈥澛�
What about 鈥淢anchester鈥� has made critics admire the film so much? Monitor film critic Peter Rainer wrote in his review of the film, in which he gave 鈥淢anchester鈥� an A grade, that it鈥檚 鈥渁 movie about unremitting grief and yet it has a boisterousness, a comic twirl, that makes it much truer to the zigzags of life than most similarly themed movies that simply pile on the gloom.鈥� Instead, Lonergan is聽鈥渢rue to the intricacies and rhythms of family strife.鈥澛�
agrees that the film manages to have humor despite its weighty themes, writing that 鈥渢his is one of the funniest films about coping with tragedy I鈥檝e ever seen.鈥� Mr. Roeper also agrees that the movie is good at depicting relationships between people of multiple generations, writing that 鈥渙ne of the many, many things 鈥楳anchester鈥� gets just right is the dynamic between parents (and uncles, and the parents of friends) and teenagers.鈥�
also adds praise for the actors鈥� work, writing that the film has 鈥渟earingly realistic performances by stars Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams and Lucas Hedges,鈥� while also praising the movie鈥檚 tone, writing that the film 鈥渃onveys such an exact sense of how life is lived, of the ways wrenching tragedy can coexist with off-handed humor, that it鈥檚 hard at times to remember that this is a written piece and not a real situation captured on the fly.鈥澛�
