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Manchester By The Sea
Lee Chandler is a brooding, irritable loner who works as a
handyman for a Boston apartment block. One damp winter day he gets a
call summoning him to his hometown, north of the city. His brother’s
heart has given out suddenly, and he’s been named guardian to his
16-year-old nephew. As if losing his only sibling and doubts about
raising a teenager weren’t enough, his return to the past re-opens an
unspeakable tragedy. Casey Affleck’s
astonishing performance captures all the substance and crumbling
complexity of Lee—a guy frozen in anguish and barely holding it
together—who must now step beyond self-imposed isolation to connect with
his nephew. Writer-director Kenneth Lonergan (You Can Count On Me)
masterfully depicts human brokenness and the possibility of
transformation through subtle, small moments between characters. There
are no quick fixes in the working-class New England town of
Manchester-by-the-Sea, just the imperfect struggle to meet loss with
integrity and decency, day by day.
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