At the 89th Academy Awards held in March 2017, a total of nine works appeared in the list of best picture nominees, "La La Land" and "Moonlight Boy" are undoubtedly the most watched, "Blood War Hacksaw" The Ridge, Arrival, Hidden Figures and other works have also gathered many topics, and there is also a unique independent work, "Manchester by the Sea".
This work with an investment cost of only 8.5 million US dollars has a cool style, a simple core, and a concise story. There is no comprehensive reflection, nor a majestic epic, even the "Juno" and "Little Sunshine Beauty". The gimmicks that touch the nerves of the awards season are lackluster, but they have unexpectedly become a shiny black horse above the Oscars, shining brightly.
Nominations for six core awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay, etc., demonstrate the solidity and excellence of this work at the performance level; Successfully won the two golden statues of Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay, which is generally regarded by mainstream media as another important victory for independent works.
As far as Renly is concerned, his love for "Manchester by the Sea" is no less than that of "La La Land", and even slightly better in some respects.
Because, "La La Land" is about dreams, and "Manchester by the Sea" is about acting — after all, Renly is also an actor.
"Manchester by the Sea" tells a very simple story.
Lee-dler, a repairman, learned of his brother's death and returned to his hometown - Manchester by the sea to handle his brother's funeral, a small town in Massachusetts, not the one in England Manchester.
According to the will, he became the guardian of his brother's son Patrick, and he was going to bring Patrick back to Boston, but Patrick was unwilling to leave his hometown and friends; and he also did not want to stay in this sad place for a long time, because there was a burial here that let him Desperate Memories:
Once, his fault led to the death of two daughters in the fire, and his wife also left him.
Returning to his hometown this time, he meets his ex-wife again - she has remarried and is about to become a mother again; at the same time, Patrick's missing mother also reappears, hoping that Patrick can become a member of her new family. So what should Lee do
This is a story about sadness.
When accidents happen, when birth, old age, sickness and death come, when parting comes... Life will always go on, and everyone must find a new track to continue, because "the dead are gone, the living are like this", which seems to have become a life Law, the living people need to live after all.
However, on Lee Chandler's body, those wounds and pains never disappeared, haunting him like a nightmare. More importantly, he couldn't get rid of it and refused to get rid of it. The bloody wounds were placed there like this, always. Unhealed, heartbreak may stay that way.
Everyone has the right to refuse to reconcile with the past.
Needless to say, this is an emotional movie. All the weight fell on Lee Chandler, so heavy that it almost overwhelmed his shoulders. Those bitterness, grief, and struggle never dissipated. He will bear his own faults and the pain of his life all his life.
But the real excellence of the movie is that it presents the bits and pieces of life with delicate and trivial brushstrokes. It's not that "everything will be fine" can heal everything, and it's not that you can really cheer yourself up by making a fist to cheer yourself up. Yes, not all moments are like a movie, and a new chapter can be opened after "cheering up". In real life, some things are painful, and they will never be eradicated.
Although it is a movie, it tells about life.
A true and delicate story with a heartbreaking tenderness. At the emotional level, at the emotional level, especially at the story level, it is easy to touch the softness in the heart, maximize the charm of the characters, and when it comes to the end, everyone is looking forward to a self-reconciliation result. I hope that Li- Chandler is able to get back on his feet, but the movie doesn't, just like life, we won't find an ending, alive, we just have to keep going.
Needless to say, the focus of the entire work falls on Lee Chandler, and it can even be said to be a one-man show, where the success or failure of the actor is crucial.
In the last life, Casey Affleck starred in this work. He really interprets what is called "facial paralysis acting" - unlike his brother Ben Affleck, Casey has shown since his debut in the first work. He showed the delicacy of his acting skills, and the emotional penetration from his eyes to his movements was excellent.
As early as 2007, Casey showed his talent with "Death of the Sharpshooter" and "Missing Baby", the former even earning him his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and since then, he has always Active in the field of independent films, constantly polishing his acting skills.
Casey's performance is delicate and gentle, and between calmness, she can always show the level of emotion through her eyes, which is not easy for an actor.
The overall tone of the work "Manchester by the Sea" is sad, but sadness also has different levels, different forms and different ways of expression. It is not necessarily sad that only tears are sad, and it is not necessarily that only mourning is pain. More often , heartbroken silently. Casey certainly succeeded in doing so.
As far as Renly is concerned, "La La Land" and "Manchester by the Sea" are both very, very favorite works. It can almost be said to be neck and neck, but from the perspective of actors, "Manchester by the Sea" is even better. , as if "Boom Drummer" was better than "La La Land"—
The role performance space is wider. As an audience and as an actor, the angle of viewing a work is different.
When he was filming "Transcendence", Renly was actually looking forward to "Manchester by the Sea", because both characters were in a state of facial paralysis, showing a kind of sadness and despair, and "Manchester by the Sea" was even better than "Manchester by the Sea". Detachment goes a step further, with more layers and powers of grief.
In addition, in "detachment", Tony Kaye gave the characters more space for presentation through means such as painting, narration, and supporting roles; however, in "Manchester by the Sea", these spaces were completely compressed, Kenneth Rowe said. Nagan (Keh-Lan) gave all the weight to the actor.
This also means that the performance is more difficult.
Kenneth Lonergan is a screenwriter-turned-director, and the comedy movie "The Boss Sidesteps" series starring Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal is Kenneth's screenwriter's debut, and then he He also served as the screenwriter of "Gangs of New York"; as early as 2000, Kenneth tried to write and direct himself, and his small test "You Can Trust Me" has successfully won a lot of praise. This work and "Gangs of New York" It earned him two Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay.
After completing the script of "Gangs of New York" in 2002, Kenneth entered a long incubation period, and it was not until 2011 that he appeared in the public eye with another self-written and directed "Margaret". It has won numerous accolades among East Coast film critics, and has received numerous nominations at the Boston Film Critics Association and the Chicago Film Critics Association, but unfortunately it has not been able to go further in awards season.
It is also this work that allows Kenneth and Matt Damon to have the opportunity to cooperate.
Later, Matt Damon came up with an inspiration idea, which he thought was very suitable for Kenneth's style. After providing his story ideas to Kenneth, Kenneth completed the script writing, and then Matt wanted to be the role. The director and starring actors bring the story to the big screen.
As early as the beginning of last year, the script was completed, but "Manchester by the Sea" is too sad and too cold. The entire script structure is far from the Hollywood framework. It is completely unreasonable, let alone the ending. Sad to the end, it scared all Hollywood producers away.
Even if Matt Damon went out in person, he could not find investment, so the script appeared on the desktop of Sisyphus Films - but not specifically asking Sisyphus Films for investment, but casting a wide net, It is estimated that all production companies have delivered scripts and are waiting to hear back.
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When Renly selected the script last year, he selected "Manchester by the Sea", but at that time all his schedules were full, so he didn't consider it for the time being; after going around, a year and a half later, this work Appeared again - this further proves that this work, like "Drunk Town Ballad", is not in the style of awards season at all, otherwise, with Matt Damon's name and connections, it would not have been reduced to this.
So what happened this time
Matt Damon couldn't turn down Ridley Scott, he agreed to star in "The Martian", because of scheduling conflicts, he gave up "Manchester by the Sea" and handed over the work to Kenneth to handle, by Kenneth served as the director and was responsible for finding the investment and completing the shoot.
Even Matt couldn't call on the studios, making it even harder for Kenneth.
As a result, "The Martian" has been filmed and officially released on October 2, and "Manchester by the Sea" has not been able to find investment.
According to the development curve of the previous life, Matt will take over "Manchester by the Sea" again, but he will no longer direct or star, but will introduce Casey Affleck as a bridge, and then find Amazon - the online shopping store platform, they are also trying to build their own online streaming platform, so they established Amazon Pictures, and finally Amazon completed the investment, which announced the official start of the film.
The situation in this life has changed slightly. Sisyphus Films blocked Amazon, and "Manchester by the Sea" was intercepted in advance by Andy and handed over to Renly, looking forward to reawakening Renly's enthusiasm—
If Renly declines, the film should be back on track, with Amazon earning their first Best Picture Oscar nomination for the film.
Now, it's up to Renly.