Manchester by the Sea

A bereavement buddy film from death-obsessed director Kenneth Lonergan against the grey wisp of sorrow and Boston’s bleak winters. Casey Affleck is Lee Chandler, a divorced janitor who can fix any plumbing maintenance problem thrown his way but can’t seem to straighten out his life. When his brother dies from heart failure, Lee learns that he’s been appointed as the guardian of his sixteen-year-old nephew, which is not something he’s prepared to face up to. From a working class fishing family, the logistics prove insurmountable. Unable to maintain his brother’s boat, unwilling to move out of Boston and unable to live down his fall from grace, Lee’s self-contained grief is misinterpreted and volatile as he tries to do what is best for his nephew.

[R]