Bad appearance of assets

Li (Kathy Affleck), a building property maintenance worker who works in Boston, is decadent and indifferent.

He does his job with a straight face every day: changing leaking pipes, dredging toilets, shoveling snow and taking out garbage. He has a bad face every day, never takes the initiative to greet the residents, has a cold attitude and a bad temper, and often speaks ill of the residents in the face of their complaints.

The residents don't like him, but he doesn't care.

One day, he received a phone call from his hometown and learned that his brother Joey (kyle chandler) had passed away. Lee hurried back to his hometown, Manchester by the sea, to deal with Joey's funeral. My brother's will designates Lee as the guardian of his son Patrick (lucas hedges). Therefore, Li had to shoulder the responsibility of his elders and take care of his nephew who was in adolescence.

What makes him more miserable than this is that he has to face the painful past that he has been trying to escape for years.

This is the story background of the 20 17 hit film Manchester by the Sea, with a douban score of 8.6. Cathy Affleck, the leading actor, won the title of Best Actor in the 89th Oscar on 20 17 for her wonderful performance.

Manchester in the title has nothing to do with Britain, but a seaside town in Massachusetts, USA. Its name is "Manchester by the Sea". 20 10, there are only 5 136 people in the town.

Li, the leading actor, wouldn't go back to his hometown at all if it weren't for dealing with his brother's funeral, because there are too many heartbreaking past events here.

An American film, the shooting style of life stream, the restraint and calmness of the lens and the narrative style are as simple and plain as Japanese films. Only the cold wind along the coast is cold.

The expressions of all the characters in the play are cold and indifferent, just like the cold winter and cold sea breeze in a small town, with a biting cold and painful memories that scorch Li's heart like magma at a cold temperature.

From beginning to end, Li's expression is numb and indifferent, avoiding interaction with others. When he saw his brother's body, there were no tears and sadness, only his dead heart with a calm expression was dragging his stiff body around.

What happened to him? Let him get stuck in such a painful quagmire?

With the story line of Li's funeral for his brother in the film, he will meet his neighbors and friends in the past, and sometimes he will have flashbacks in previous lives. The camera jumps between the past and the present, memory and reality, and gradually makes the audience understand what happened to Li in people's evasive and awkward expressions.

In this small town, Li once had a beautiful wife and three lovely children. Their family lives in a wooden house. Happiness and peace.

One day, Li and a group of good friends got together at home and got drunk. Some people also took drugs. In the early hours of the morning, because it was very cold at home, Li, who was drunk in a daze, added some firewood to the fireplace at home, forgot to turn off the fire screen, and went out to buy beer in a small supermarket. When he got home, his home was on fire.

Three young children died in the fire, and his wife was heartbroken and unwilling to leave him.

Li was instantly crushed by cruel facts and once wanted to commit suicide. Finally, with the help of his brother, he escaped from his sadness, exiled himself to Boston, an hour's drive from the town, found a job and languished alone.

Knowing what happened to Li, the audience may understand why Li was in such a bad state at the beginning of the movie.

My brother's son Patrick, 16 years old, is in adolescence. He is even more indifferent to his father's death. He went to the morgue to see his father, glanced at the door and immediately turned to leave. Uncle took him home, and he asked several boyfriends and girlfriends to accompany him. Then he actually talked about Star Wars.

He is confident of his charm and associates with several girls at the same time. Compared with his father's death, he seems to care more about how to avoid his mother who keeps knocking at the door because of his girlfriend, so as not to disturb their good things.

There are often memories of children's nephews and Li's close fishing at sea in the film. My nephew, who is now in a rebellious period, is mean to Li and often has verbal conflicts with Li. Li is helpless and seems too lazy to care.

Throughout the film, director kenneth lonergan showed great restraint and calmness. There is neither the emotion of crying and wiping tears, nor the joy of anger and resentment. The whole film is full of long conversations, still shots and melodious background music played by cello, which makes the audience feel absorbed and depressed.

The hero drove his broken jeep around the bitterly cold town to pick up his nephew, meet his lawyer, discuss the funeral and how to deal with the boat left by his brother.

There is an explanation in psychology that when people suffer from painful pain, but they can't escape and forgive themselves, as an instinctive self-protection, the emotions of the parties will become numb. He cut his misfortune from the normal emotional reaction and helped himself escape the pain.

Li's performance in the film is numb and indifferent from beginning to end. But in a casual moment, it will switch to rage and attack strangers for no reason. Li fought in different bars twice and took the initiative to attack each other after taking the initiative to provoke. This switch between indifference and rage makes people feel a little confused, and also feels his inner turmoil and disorder.

Finally, Li decided to respect his nephew's opinion and entrust his friends to adopt him so that he could stay in his original life. On the other hand, Li himself found another job in Boston and continued his self-exile.

My nephew asked him to stay. In the film, he painfully expressed his heart for the first time: "I can't get rid of it! I can't get out! " .

In the film, the only unreal scene is that Li falls asleep in the living room. He saw his two little daughters sitting beside him and asked him painfully, "Dad, don't you see that we are burning?"

This moment is heartbreaking!

Li suddenly woke up in a harsh fire alarm. There is a lot of smoke in the house. It turned out that the pot in the kitchen was burnt.

He can't forgive himself and will never forgive himself.

This movie has no happy ending. What is Li's mental state at the beginning of the film? Nothing has changed at the end of the film, which is quite different from the story style of ordinary American movies. There is no inspiring positive attitude towards life, no self-redemption, no good expectation of coming out of the shadows to meet a bright future.

Nothing!

Only the gloomy and cold life continues to weigh on you.

This is actually our real life. There is no hero, no diaosi counterattack, and no "Prince and Princess live happily ever after". This is the life you can live. You can live in the beginning and the end.

Most of us are doomed to misfortune, doomed to live silently and disappear from the world.

The successful people in this world, under the spotlight, hysterically instill the so-called successful chicken soup into the universal public, instilling the behavioral logic of anxiety and quick success. They put a bright future into capsules, making you feel that you can have a successful life as long as you take it on time.

They will never tell the public that this is a ruthless world, and the only meaning of most ordinary people in the world is to serve as the background and background for setting off successful people, that's all.

They won't tell the public that we are defeated by life and can't stand up again. How can we continue to live?

Many times, our efforts are in vain; Many times, when we face the pain of life and can't stand it, we can only continue to endure it.

The film "Manchester by the Sea" frankly faced all realistic fanaticism and idealism, and mercilessly knocked over the bowl of chicken soup in the hands of the winners.

It tells us that the road of life is long, tortuous and muddy. And most people are destined to lie down where they fell for life.

This is cruel, but it is also a reality.

This film, it is not decadent or dark, it just flows quietly in people's hearts like running water, restrained.

It gently tells you that there are no accidents and surprises in life. When we encounter a failed life, we can only face it and continue to live silently.

Admit this reality, and we will really grow up.