The First "Manchester by the Sea" Trailer Offers a Potential Oscar Favorite

Scene from Manchester by the Sea

We're only days away from the end of summer, and it's time to start getting serious about Oscar season. While September tends to be slower, one cannot leave out potential favorites like The Light Between Oceans. It also means that new trailers are starting to pop up with some frequency, and it seems like the one getting a lot of attention is director Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester By the Sea, starring Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams. With several early screenings suggesting great things for the film, it is likely going to be one to look out for when it's released. The first trailer makes special note of this - with all three of the main stars getting their own Oscar-filled blurb. Thankfully the trailer around it looks just as appealing.

I know that it is an unpopular opinion, but I definitely think that Casey Affleck is a better actor than brother Ben Affleck. This is likely overlooked because Ben has two Oscar wins to his credit: one for Good Will Hunting and another for Argo. These are both irrefutably good movies. However, I do think that if one looks at Ben's other work on average (Batman v. Superman being the painfully obvious one), you'll understand where I'm coming from. While Casey's films aren't nearly as high profile, one simply has to watch them to understand his charisma. Films like Gone Baby Gone (directed by Ben) was early evidence of his charisma. While Casey has a nomination to his credit, it's a far cry from the pile that Ben has, and the reputation that follows is unfairly favoring one side of the coin.

It is generally why I get excited when I see that Casey Affleck may be doing great work in any given year. He's one of those faces that I want to see have multiple Oscar nominations. Thankfully, this film also looks promising just because it has the underrated Michelle Williams. Add in that the reviews leading up to the film's release have been unanimously positive, and you stand a good chance of seeing one of this year's Oscar contenders. While I don't have much anticipation for the film itself, it's mostly because I haven't marked down my calendar yet as well as I usually do.

Check out the trailer below:

Looks really good. Here's the plot description according to IMDb:

An uncle is forced to take care of his teenage nephew after the boy's father dies.

It may just be the blurbs that are touting this as a masterpiece, but the film definitely looks promising in a way that makes the potential Oscar season more exciting. Could we be looking at the start of Lucas Hedges' promising career? There's a lot riding on this film that makes it stand out, and hopefully it will deliver on that promise. After all, Lonergan is a seasoned vet who has two Oscar nominations to his credit, including a Best Adapted Screenplay nod for Gangs of New York. Maybe this will be one of his breakout films and make him an in demand director. I don't have much else to say other than that this looks pretty good.