MovieChat Forums > Moonlight (2016) Discussion > Manchester by the Sea was better

Manchester by the Sea was better

posted 8 years ago by Sentient Meat (1509)
6 replies | jump to latest

Finally caught up with this movie... some nice acting, pretty photography (although sometimes the director/dp were too consciously artsy for their own good) but the story was pretty basic and the main character Little/Chiron/Black wasn't quite as fully realized as Affleck's Lee Chandler. I'd describe it as a cross between Boyhood and The Wire except with the central plotline of an After School Special. Watch it mostly for the performances of Ali, Harris, and the middle Chiron (Ashton Sanders), but if you're looking for fresh insight into our world you'd probably get more out an episode of Atlanta.

[–] sleepingtiger (712) 7 years ago

Why are you even comparing Manchester in the Sea to Moonlight, when they are two completely entirely different movies? They are in no way alike, and they don't even deal with the same subject matter. So your comparing the two is really pointless, and it makes no sense at all whatsoever. And I liked the artiness of the film--that's what made it so unique and different, as well as its fresh approach to the usual coming-of-age-in-the-inner-city storyline. Plus you don't see a lot of films about a young,gay, black male coming of age in particular (there are some,but they're mostly indies that didn't get much attention.) It's not a Hollywood film, so it wasn't as lame, boring, and predictable as your average Hollywood film (in fact, Hollywood would never have made a film like this,straight up.) And comparing it to an episode of a TV show---give me a break, for real. Just shows you haven't been exposed to enough films like these---I have. Here's an interview with newcomer Ashton Sanders about the film, and how it's changed his life since then:

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2017/apr/22/moonlight-ashton-sanders-america-isnt-made-for-black-man

[–] MichaelPacino (179) 7 years ago

Look, yes i get it, the movies are different, but we compare art as a whole. "Apples to oranges" well, one may prefer the other fruit over the other, but they also have strong points on why they think the other fruit is better than the other, despite being different tastes. Movies are the same way; Just because they don't deal with the same issues, or topics, it doesn't mean they can't be compared on which movie is better than the other. That's how critics have been judging movies for years, and that's how art is judged. Juts because the two are different, doesn't mean one cannot be better than the other.

[–] Juschill (808) 5 years ago

Err, they were both up for Academy Award Best Picture. And this one was like the eighth best of the nominees.

[–] Thunder26 (335) 7 years ago

Way better! I am surprised Moonlight got 3 Oscars! Anyway I'm glad that Hollywood is paying attention to this kind of dramas. But there is nothing new. European film makers have been making zillions of dramas that are way more gripping than Moonlight and they've never been getting appraisal as Moonlight did.

[–] Juschill (808) 5 years ago

It was the year that they were going to give the best picture award to any black movie, even if it would have been Soul Plane.

[–] rudeboymurray (3279) 5 years ago

Manchester by the Sea was the better film but Moonlight is wonderful and its shock win over La La Land was a great Oscar moment, for more than one reason!

I do think Moonlight should have won the Directing Oscar - more so than Best Picture, in fact. Barry Jenkins really has a distinctive voice. If I had power over the winners I'd have given Picture/Actor/Screenplay to Manchester, Director/Supporting Actor/Cinematography to Moonlight.