Manchester by the Sea: Casey Affleck

Yesterday Steve and I bunked off to Chichester for an afternoon performance of Manchester by the sea. We prefer an early show when we can in winter, maybe we were bears or something in another life, because we do like to snuggle down and hibernate in front of a cosy fire on dark winter evenings, and we are early to bed and early to rise people anyway.

We were drawn to the film having seen the trailer that didn’t tell you very much apart from that the man who appeared to be barely scratching a living in a group of ancient Boston apartments as the handy man, cleaner, unqualified plumber/electrician and snow clearer who was heavily put upon and not dealing with the abuse well.

Lee Chandler is played agonisingly by Casey Affleck who gets called to his home town where his brother has had some sort of heart failure whilst working on the family boat. When he gets there he is just too late to be with his brother when he died and discovers that he's been named guardian to his 16-year-old nephew. 

Director Kenneth Lonergan so perfectly lets to audience slowly grasp the horrendous tragedy that has caused the lead character to slip downward irretrievably into blame and aggressive self punishment for what has befallen his family, something that is so ghastly as to be totally unspeakable. 

There is no way back to any normal life and having to return to his family home town is the most painful thing for him to face. He is further agonized by having to try to care for his typical teenage nephew, who though by no means a bad kid, has no grasp of the problems being faced and who has not even passed his grade one sensitivity test.

Michelle Williams as his ex wife has one heartbreaking scene in particular as she tries to approach the chasm of misery that lies immovably between them. Kyle Chandler, who was so brilliant in ‘Bloodline’ on TV, plays the dead brother and father of the teenager in a series of flashbacks.

There are light moments that allow a few moments recovery from the totally shattering story that is beautifully acted by the entire cast but with Casey Affleck doing a first class job in this tragic tale of grief and unthinkable family loss. I would imagine a mantle shelf of awards coming his way. 

On the way home we stopped in at Prezzo in Arundel where there is always a good deal on offer at the off peak times that we like to eat there. Yesterday they had two for one on ‘Mains’. Still being very careful with our eating we had not had a bit to eat all day. We both ordered the house VIP steak and rocket pizza. It probably raises and eyebrow or to imagine that this is a healthy eating dish bit it is the thinnest tastiest pizza crust you could imagine, barely coloured with tomato base but with fresh tomato and a lawn of rocket beneath the thinly shaven steak slices. Delicious, and with excellent service. We only had sparkling mineral water each with it.

 I have stuck strictly to the ‘No eating in the day time’ rule on our five days per week diet, though I suspect that Steve grabs a sandwich when he is stuck in a hard day of lifting heavy furniture to load or unload one of the trucks. Today all hands are going to London’s Battersea, to deliver for a client exhibiting at the Decorative Show there for a week. Setting the stand out is a nightmare.

This morning swim sets made me smile at my friend Bekka who has not quite grasped the swim rest idea yet or managed to do a warm up or swim down so far. We are both just smiling fondly as she does what she wants to of the so thoughtfully worked out schedule especially for her although it truth it suits me just fine too. With a 6.30am start (and missing the warm up as mentioned) she left to catch a train at 7.05am. After she left I did one more set of the same schedule that was repeated twice (and not quite completed) for her while I did three reps of it before going home to tidy up before my annual eye test at Boots Opticians.

Bekka	10 Mins	WU
distance	clock	swim rest
200	60	5.10
200	10	5.10
200	20	5.10
50	30	1.30
50	60	1.30
200	30	5.10
200	40	5.10
200	50	5.10
50	60	1.30
50	30	1.30
swim	down
1400	mtrs	total

Lane 1	10 Mins	Warm up
Distance	Clock	Swim rest
300	60	5.00
200	60	3.30
50	30	1.20
200	50	3.20
300	10	4.50
50	60	1.20
300	20	4.45
200	05	3.30
50	35	1.20
200	55	3.15
300	10	5.00
50	10	1.20
Swim	down
2200