Manchester by the Sea

Manchester by the Sea centres on a traumatic event that changes the course of Lee's life. It is a harrowing portrayal of grief. Amy tells us why she thinks it deserves your vote for the Mind Media Film Award 2017, sponsored by ODEON.

Manchester by the Sea is one of the best films I’ve seen in a long quite a while. I cried my eyes out as I watched it in the cinema. It’s beautiful and incredibly moving. Somehow you can really feel the heartbreak that the characters are experiencing.

The film centres on Lee. When we first meet him he comes across as shy and lonely, but before long you realise there is something much more serious and troubling going on with him. He is angry and self-destructive. An early scene in the film shows him drinking heavily in a bar and then picking a fight with some guys and letting himself get beaten up.

Then Lee gets a call that his brother has died suddenly and made him the guardian for his 16-year-old nephew Patrick, meaning he has to return to his home town of Manchester. Through a series of flashbacks we learn that Lee has purposefully distanced himself from the town and from his family. Going back forces him to confront his past and the memories he’s been trying to protect himself from.

This film is about grief and the inability to cope with our emotions. It’s also about the relationship between Lee and Patrick, which is often difficult but underpinned by deep love for each other. What I like about the film is that it doesn’t offer a clichéd happy ending; but is simply a realistic portrayal of grieving.

"What this film says to me is that losing people is awful and life can be really hard but people love us and need us and sometimes we just have to get on as best we can."

This film is heartbreaking, but it also offers some superbly awkward, mundane and funny moments which cut through the intensity, and make it even more real.

This film is brilliant. Watch it, cry for a bit, and then vote for it.