Movie: Manchester By The Sea

This film got quite a few Oscar nominations so I popped out to see it. It was incredibly well done, but OMG it was grim. The story is a slow unfolding, with tragedy after tragedy piling up on this family. The scenery, wintertime around Boston and Manchester MA, was lovely but grim. The acting was all top notch but grim. Even the music, largely acapella choral music, was grim.

Funerals, deaths, tragedies, lots of long scenes of nothing but people staring.

Did I mention grim?

I've never understood he appeal of movies about people having a shit life. Just one tragedy after another. Not what I would call entertaining; grim, in fact.

Speaking from experience, when you're in a long period of grim, you tend to not really notice. There's stuff that has to be done, so you stick to it and do what you have to do.

But choosing to watch it, as entertainment? Fuck that.

"Fuck that" indeed.

I have had people tell me what a great movie something was, then I saw it and it was grim-after-grim all the way through. It may be that those who enjoy such movies are people who have never experienced any significant problems in their lives.

I HAVE experienced some tragedy in my life, and I've got to say, experiencing it again second-hand is not my idea of entertainment.  I mean the movie was extremely well done, but about 10 minutes in (it was nearly three hours) I was ready for it to be over.

And it just got grim after that.

That remark wasn't aimed at you. I had assumed by your review of the movie that you didn't care for it.

We won't discuss what constitutes a tragedy and what is just part of normal life.