Manchester by the Sea

So I watched Manchester by the Sea yesterday. And... I don't know. It was good. But I didn't find it Oscar-worthy. It was sad and very contemplative, very much, I think, a study of one man and his relationship with the world, whether it's the town or the wave of people with whom he interacts. The humor was quite well-done but I'm not sure how well it sits with the very sombre tone of the film... without the humor, the film would've been worse off, but I don't know if it was handled that well, I guess? And I think the music got kind of boring. They would always play classical music really loud so that it drowned out the audio and the diegetic stuff would go mute... and often there would be slow motion with those cuts that are abrupt but not too much so, so that they suggest the passing of that slow kind of time. It was overused, I think, and got boring. After a while it just seemed kind of pretentious. But it also shows that the film was a very visual one. During these moments, the story is told entirely visually, a bit like a comic strip, or a photo series. The funeral scene in the middle (when everyone comes to the church and shakes hands etc) brings to mind a photo album on Facebook called "Joe's wake" where a professional photographer has been hired to help commemorate the occasion. So, very visual, kind of vignette-y (if that's the right word to use here, I guess it isn't, but the only one I can think of). And I enjoyed the scene between Michelle Williams and Casey Affleck when they confront each other and their voices overlap, trying to be polite, stuttering, stammering, yet full of pain. It's the best scene of the film, and I know this because it featured prominently in the trailer AND is the basis of the film poster (at least the one I've seen). So I've actually seen Williams with that "look" (the I-want-to-see-your-manager PTA mom haircut, and that really ugly plaid jacket) a lot of times, and I have to say it looks so bad and plain that it was actually detrimental to the scene. Overall it was okay. I didn't even cry. I think if I'd cried I'd've liked it slightly more. Eh.