Review - Manchester by the Sea

The tale of never-ending grief

Manchester by the Sea is a sad, sad film. The protagonist of this film is constantly grieving, never coming to terms with his tragic past. He is stuck, never moving on, even when life literally throws bundle of opportunities towards him for doing so. The film makes this point - if you have messed up real bad in your past, your future won't be a blissful joy. But bigger issue for the film itself is this - will you spend over two hours watching a suffering man wearing a same sad expression and mumbling most of the time?

Clearly enough, the film is not an easy watch. Cassey Affleck stars as Lee Chandler, an ill-fated janitor who has got the custody of his 16-year old nephew after untimely death of his brother. Lee for much of the film (except for some flashbacks) is melancholic, hardly taking interest in any living or non-living thing. Earlier in the film, we see him reacting on the news of his brother's death -  stoic, almost blank albeit with a hint of concern. He sees his brother's dead body, again, with the same old expression on his face. You wonder, what is wrong with this man?

Kenneth Lonergan, also directing this film, has written the script in an intriguing fashion. The film is told with alternate cuts of flashbacks and present proceedings, which creates a sense of mystery, especially regarding Lee's troubled past. It does unfold near the film's half-way, and it is indeed shattering - a mistake, or rather a gigantic blunder which has not only destroyed Lee's own life, but also his family's. 

The present timeline of the film deals with Lee slowly taking the role of his father-less nephew's guardian, even though he feels strongly evasive about it. The demons of his past however, are ever troubling him, even taking a toll on his mental state. Lee hoards an ocean of repressed anger, mostly directed towards his own self, which often manifests via violent outbursts of drunken brawls. The dynamic between Lee and his nephew is particularly interesting, and it is perhaps the only "fun" part of the film where Affleck's coerced guardian tries to understand peculiarities of the teenage boy.

The film is soaked with melancholia. The sky is ever dark and overcast, there is always snow around and not even a single ray of sunshine hits the frozen surface. Cassey Affleck plays his part extremely well, he's subtle and reserved. Even in the scenes where there was some scope of dramatic fireworks, he remains grounded and true to his character's psychological state.

But that also means that there is nothing in this film which bounds the audience to its characters. The overwhelmingly dreary tone and sluggish pace doesn't help either. Worse, there is no narrative arc in this film. Lee's character is at same state in the end as he was in the beginning, there is nothing to take back home. As a dramatic film, Manchester by the Sea fails, but as a character study of depressed soul with a tragic past, you cannot get anything better than this.

3/5

Review - Arrival (2016)

Story of your life

Amy Adams gives a remarkable performance in Arrival.

It's a tricky task to put Arrival into a certain genre, or to be specific, under "Science-Fiction" category. Yes, there is much science and fiction going on in it, but unlike many others, the film is like a dreamy, melancholic piece - a swan song of sort, which pulls your heartstrings more than exercising your cerebral thinking. It moves you in ways which sci-fi films don't. Thanks to outstanding work by Amy Adams and equally masterful direction by Denis Villeneuve - Arrival defies common genre boundaries by every sense.

Sometime in near future, twelve extra-terrestrial space pods arrive at various locations across the globe. The capsule like enclosures hover some twenty feet over the land and none of the life form which resides within them seem to be coming out or making any contact. "Why they are here?" is the billion dollar question which needs to be answered right away. As media and general public all over the world becomes more anxious and fearful about the nature of these spaceships, military forces start to take precautionary action and teams of scientists are assembled to uncover their truth. 

Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is a linguist professor at a university in Montana. Having worked with military intelligence before, she is recruited by the army for a top secret mission - to communicate with the alien beings and discover their actual motive of arrival at Earth. She is joined by Physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) on the mission, and as tensions rise all over the world, both of them together start a series of sessions. Starting with rudimentary form of communication with chalk and slate, Louise and Ian take baby-steps, one day at a time to learn the alien language.

The alien language is particularly amusing and visually striking. The circular loops of inky-black wisps may refer to a word, sentence or even an entire notion. The aliens themselves are a cross between a giant humanoid and an octopus, albeit with seven legs. Their voice (much credit to the sound design team) is eerily outlandish and yet, not so threatening. As the sessions continue, both Louise and Ian learn about the exotic loop symbols and much of the film's middle portion is devoted to it. By the last thirty minutes however, Eric Heisserer's script takes a mind-boggling twist. I would rather not divulge that twist here, but let's say that it makes this film a worthy companion to recent celebrated works like Interstellar and Gravity. To drop a tiny hint - the film brings up alluring notions about your past memories, your losses, your decisions and how they all ultimately affect your life. 

Beautifully shot and aptly paced, Arrival is technically flawless. The design of creatures and the pod is strikingly original, while the use of Max Richter's On the Nature of Daylight is deeply moving. Adams is subtle and quite understated for much of the film, but her scenes near the end deliver a powerful emotional punch on the audience. The film is literally carried on her shoulders, and much like Sandra Bullock in Gravity, she carries it with strength and robustness.

During the opening voice-over, Adams' character says "I'm not so sure that I believe in beginnings and endings. There are days that define your story beyond life." Like a palindrome, the film has no beginning or an end - it's a sequence of events and memories, and irrespective of which end you traverse it, you would always go through the same emotions and same feelings. With brilliant central performance by Amy Adams, Arrival is unique and surprisingly emotional film. The film's last minutes make a grand statement about life, and combined with the effect of the opening and the last shot, you take home much more than mere science-fiction.

3.5/5