Manchester By The Sea (2016)

So here's one of the films currently riding the awards trail leading up to the Oscars. It's a little drama starring Casey Affleck, Lucas Hedges, Michelle Williams and a few others, and its pretty darn great. The drama itself is very strong a mixture of Sadness and hope laying at its foundation, though it is the melancholy that is most prevalent and it is quite the emotional experience but it's certainly no heavy-handed tearjerker, its approach is a little more subtle and genuine and handled exceedingly well.
What really makes this film though is it's characters and performances, the characters are well fleshed out and interesting and are backed up by great performances by its entire cast. I give particular praise to Casey Affleck who is outstanding in the lead role and deserves all the nominations and awards he's been getting. He plays the most interesting character in film who on the surface it may not seem like he is but there's alot of depth going on beneath which we get because of the way Affleck embodies the role.
the film is also well shot with alot of nice static camera work being used particularly in the films first 10/15 minutes which I thought was done in an intriguing way. I also like the classical music that was used throughout which fit in very nicely with the films atmosphere and tone.
The film does run at 137 minutes so it's a little long, but it's certainly not boring and stays engaging thanks to the characters, performances and certain story elements. Overall this is a great piece of drama that is full of strong acting and characters and I'd definitely recommend it. ****