Filmmaker reacts to Manchester by the Sea (2016) for the FIRST TIME! 

This movie gives my depression depression

The ‘you can’t just die’ scene is some of the best acting ever

His acting in the police station is literally flawless. You believe every single world he speaks.

I am convinced that Affleck's delivery of "please" is what won him the Oscar.

That "I can't beat it" hits hard... damn...

I didn't expect to relate to this film so much when I saw it in the theater, I didn't know what it was about. But this film was my life two months before this came out (November 2016). My dad had passed in August and I had to handle all the post-death arrangements for when a direct family member passes, cuz my mom wasn't able to handle it, in terms of arranging burial/cremation, dealing with the hospital's affairs, legal paperwork etc. It was my life for a whole month. And I was still young like Lee Chandler in the film, in my late 20s. So, watching this in the theater just a couple months later was like _"Wow, I know all about the headaches of this process, Lee. I feel ya, bro."_

My gf was like wtf I thought this was a cute movie about boats 🤣 as she was sobbing in the theater.

I'm not gonna lie. I waited years for you to react to this film. Thank you!

James Vs. Depression

16:09 Apparently the "please" is improvised by the actor

One of the best Drama movies i‘ver ever seen

He tried to protect his children, keeping them from freezing, but they ended up dying in the fire from it. Just brutal. This might be the closest I'll ever get to a rewatch. Casey Affleck's performance is completely haunting. Who'd have thought that the idiot friend in a tracksuit from Good Will Hunting would become this great of an actor.

Awesome that you gave props to the editing, because Jennifer Lame who edited this film went on to win the most recent Oscar for editing Oppenheimer. It's pretty awesome how she went from nice subtle indie dramas near billion dollar blockbusters.

Man. You have the most impressive catalogue of film reactions. A bunch of really top shelf stuff.

It was not shot on film, BUT the Canon K35 lenses they used for the movie are old cinema lenses that were used on those older film cameras. They are my favorite lenses because of this. This is my favorite movie of all time too. Seen it 33 times now!

Casey Affleck deserved every award he garnered for this film. I've never seen grief shown so poignantly in a film. Anything I've seen Casey in, he's always stealing scenes.

Dude, its weird as hell how this movie isnt more well known. It's one of the best I've seen when it comes to coping with loss. Another great one is 'The Father'

Whoever recommended this one is a beast. Absolutely love this movie!

Absolutely brutal film

this movie is so dear to me , I randomly catch myself thinking about it every now and then

LETS GOOOOOOOOO TIME TO SUFFER

now we're going to see a wave of reactions to this, mark my words haha

Im not big on awards or Oscars, but Michelle Williams is a killer actress who should have at least one or two Oscars by now. She is incredible,

One of my favorites of all time. One of the best things about this film in my opinion is the dialogue. The way it’s written and the way it’s delivered by all the characters. Like you said about characters sometimes talking over each other doesn’t make it feel scripted. It feels so real

Thank you for reacting to this! It bums me out there isn't more reactions to this movie. It's so heart breaking

Oh dude, this one is a DOOZY

woah ive never seen anyone react to this, pumped

I CANNOT watch that scene with the two at the end without crying. Some of the best acting ever put on film

Rewatched this for the first time since it came out only a month ago, and I also picked up on the very specific sound design! Love how so many conversations farther from the camera are half-mumble, half-coherent; it always feels like it echoes Lee's sense of being an outsider in this place he once called home.

Having gone through a broken marriage and personal loss this movie absolutely knocked me on my ass…it gets grief and disassociation so right.

Grateful for films like this to exist. Its heavy but necessary

To me, this is the best depiction of depression on film.

oh shit, this is a nice surprise. I watched this movie once and never again. Shit hit different and I never wanted to feel like that again lol.

Awesome react james. The moment the credits rolled at the cinema i knew I'd never watch it in full again. The devastation was just too great. But it's undoubtedly one the best modern movies ever made. Love your consistently refreshing leftfield choices! Much love from England.

Ah, yes..the feeling of pain. Want to vote on what I should watch next? Click here! www.patreon.com/jamesvscinema Have a great day!

this is one of the best movies to only watch once in your life, too real

20:28 you are so real for that brother. Idk why I didn't feel all that emotional watching this the first time around but now with your reaction and these new anxious as well as sad feelings make me wanna do a rewatch. And I think I will!!!

It was shot on an Arri Alexa with Canon K35 and Angenieux Optimo lenses. Check out Lonergan's other masterpiece, Margaret (2011) (Extended Cut).

Letsgoooo, so few reactions to this film, love that you watched and shared this with us ❤

Been waiting for this omg

This is one of my favourite movies to not watch with pleasure. It succeeds so well in radiating the feeling of depression and disconnect and (some) people trying to understand or tap into you and you knowing they can't. The acting, the photography, the music... the subtle hints and moments. It's heart breaking, every time.

His controversies aside, Casey Affleck is my favorite actor. I miss seeing him in film.

I'm so happy that you can finally watch this film, this is my favorite movie ever, my love for the sea and movies shaped my life, and this one really helped me through some dark times, it really taught me about letting go and trauma, and I'm so, so glad that you can see it and talk about it, I thank you from the bottom of my heart

dang watching this and mystic river in close proximity to each other is dangerous. you ought to throw in the documentary Dear Zachardy :)

One of my favorite movies of all time, I love the tone and photography and the performance are all incredible. It's my comfort movie...

dude , you're the best 🤎

Thank God someone else reacted to this. Props to you, brother.

We did a really in-depth analysis of the script for Manchester by the Sea as a part of our acting studies, and then we finished the project by watching the movie. Watching it after having done all this analysis on the inner lives of the characters and what they might be feeling, and why they might be doing what they do, made it almost too heavy to get through. The police station scene in particular was hard.

Great reaction!!! 💯As usual, you always are very perceptive to all the facets of a film. You must see Kenneth Lonergans other 2 films ( You can count on Me & Margaret) All Masterpieces!

Great reaction. When I first saw the movie it hit so hard.

i wish there were more reactions to this amazing movie

Margaret is so underrated from the same Director

This is a beautiful but extremely depressing movie. It shows the true ups and downs of life. I was depressed for like 3 days after I saw it in theaters.

I really love the symbolism with the ice thawing in this movie. Lee has to stay in Manchester until the ground has thawed enough for his brother to be buried, and it's natural for us to think that by the time that happens, Lee's heart will have thawed as well. It just doesn't. I really also love Patrick's freakout, and how it's tied to all the frozen meat falling out of the freezer - just like his dad is in the freezer. What a movie.

One of the finest films ever made - thanks for reacting to it ;)

He can't beat it😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢

just watched this movie last night...surprisingly good watch!! really interesting how we learned so much and the story took us back to the beginning

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS I LOVE THIS MOVIE THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!

My favourite movie, sort of a comfort movie to me! 😅

I agree about how the film reveals its timeline. When the big event is revealed, everything you've seen up to that point suddenly makes sense, particularly why Lee has become so self-destructive. Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams are both so good in this movie. The scene where she tries to mend fences is heartbreaking. "You Can Count on Me", also directed by Kenneth Lonergan, is another fine movie. I don't think there are any reactions to it on RU-vid. Thanks!

The best American film of the last decade.

Yessss!!!!! Only the brave go for manchester by the sea

I remember seeing this in the theater when this came out. I was 22 and the youngest person there. This is a phenomenal film and my personal favorite of 2016. Casey Affleck and Kenneth Lonergan deserved their Academy Awards for Affleck’s acting and Lonergan’s writing. The other performances are fantastic, especially from Michelle Williams and Lucas Hedges who deserved their Oscar nominations, though I’m curious as to if and when Michelle Williams will finally win an Oscar. Truly a well made and heartbreaking film. I know Matt Damon was supposed to direct this film, with John Krasinski playing the lead but he had to drop out due to his commitment to other projects, but is an Executive Producer since he and Damon brought the idea to Lonergan to write for them to then make together, and then Damon was going to star in it, but had to step from directing once he read the script so then he had the intention on still staring in it as well as producing it, but later just stayed as a producer as he became busy with The Martian as well as later going on to play Jason Bourne again and told Lonergan he’d only give the role up if Casey Affleck played Lee and now we have the final product. Part of me is curious what it would have looked like if Damon directed this with either himself or Krasinski as the lead. I’m glad we got the film the way it is now, so I’m not too disappointed that either of the two didn’t play the lead part since Casey did an amazing job. It’s great to see you react to this and give your thoughts on it. Hope you’re doing well James, have a great rest of your day and a great weekend. Take care!

4:04 man I love us Massholes sometimes we people just say whatever we want raise ur hand if ur a masshole 😂 ✋🏻

Pissed as hell when I found out that that police station scene was the first scene I watched and thought it was the opening of the movie. 😑

Love the shout out to Jennifer Awesome for her editing skills. She just won an Oscar for editing Oppenheimer. Note: I call her Jennifer Awesome, instead of Jennifer Lame.

Out Of the Furnace has a packed cast Casey Affleck, Christian Bale, Woody Harrelson, Zoe Saldana, forest Whitaker. Great movie about non the less

There is another film that is beautifully made and hits hard is 'Graveyard of the Fireflies'. Hard to watch but well worth seeing!

This is so messed up of me to say but I have been DYING for someone to react to this devastatingly beautiful film and I am pleased as punch to see this in my feed.

This movie is such an honest representation of life

I needed to lay and play on the floor with ten puppies just to begin to feel normal again after watching this movie.

A tough watch, but glad to see your reaction to it. I used to live in Manchester-by-the-Sea. Don't cross it off your list of places to visit - it does get sunnier than this.

I can not believe that this movie has not hit the react scene. It is literally perfevt as react content

This is some of the best “silent acting” I’ve ever seen in a movie. As great as the showy performances are we often seen from great actors, there’s something amazing about how Affleck can display these emotions without saying a word. Also, shoutout to Lucas Hedges. I feel like he should have the career that Timothee Chalemet has (they’re around the same age, at least).

If you liked this i would recommend Margaret. It's by the same writer/director. A really great film that went under the radar.

James, if you're up for another challenging watch, may I suggest Melancholia (2011). I don't think there have been any full-fledged YT reactions to it. And for something else completely different, rather less dark, may I suggest the vintage drama A Place in the Sun (1951), which won several Oscars but also has rarely, if ever, reacted to on YT!

I watched this when it came out eight years ago, haven't been able to bring myself to re-watch it since, but after watching your video on it, it reminded me of just how amazing the acting was, particularly from Casey Affleck

Me & my mom love watching movies together and went into this one blind(she picked it completely random, I only knew it was a big Oscar film). When he was walking home I just quietly whispered "oh no" and my mom asked what was wrong so I told her I felt dread. Then the emergency vehicles sound off prompting me to go "Somebody's hurt bad". Then we get to the fire. I don't think we said a word to each other the rest of the movie, except we both screamed "NO!" at the police station scene. After the movie was over instead of talking about it like we usually do the only discussion went like this: "I don't think I want to watch this again." "Yeah me neither." "Who picked out this one?" "You did." "I don't think I should pick the movie next time." "Yeah... me neither." The only movie that was a rougher surprise than this one was Hereditary. Which I had picked out knowing nothing but that it was a horror. We try to go in with a bit more information now lol

Even though this movie is hard to get through and you feel for Lee, I will say in my opinion, I think the movie ends optimistically

just watched this movie this year, probably one of my favorite depressing movies of all time

The Music selection for the burning building and horror that follows it.. is actually Funeral music 🎵.. and that particular song was played throughout the movie Gallipoli starting Mel Gibson and Mark Lee. Another tear jerker like this one. Well I'm going to at least listen to Bill Burr right now and not think about the subject matter if this great Reaction. Good Job keep up the great work

I’ve been waiting for long for someone to finally react to this film. I know it’s somewhat tainted due to allegations around Casey, but it’s such an incredible movie. Devasting. Yet still hopeful.

You need to watch Close man, it's so good.

Great movie

You Can Count On Me, by the same director, is also worth a watch. It's got one of Laura Linney's best performances, and it's the movie that made Mark Ruffalo famous.

I really love this movie but it hits like a truck, such a hard watch.

I saw this in theaters like seven times. There is 100 percent something wrong with me.

Oh no- I don't think I'm ready 😬

Watch mommy-2014 by Xavier dolan. It's amazing

Check out: The Perfect Storm

have u seen climax yet

now watch Nocturnal Animals {2016} ASAP.

This one is a rough watch

Would love to see you react to Dogville and Dogtooth if you haven't already seen them.

Wildest thing for me about this movie is the trailer. While it hints at sadness there's also a slight note of optimism as well. Sure as shit didn't feel optimistic by the end of the film.

Please, I beg of you to react to the Trial. (1963 or 1962) directed by Orson Welles! It’s on of the best movie adaptations of a novel ever made! And it’s a complete masterpiece in drama and dramatic shots.

Truly one of the most overrated films in cinema history. Holy hell what a snooze

I agree with you about the set design. I wish they would get more recognition the lived it look of a home or run down office. The sadness here is so overwhelming and heartbreaking ❤️‍🩹