Year By the Sea

If Brad’s Status is about men pondering past choices, here’s its distaff counterpart, a movie about aging women weighing their options before that last opportunity eludes them. After years of clipping coupons and being the nurturing wife she was expected to be, Joan (Karen Allen) decides to take a temporary separation from her marriage after learning at her eldest son’s wedding that her husband has taken a transfer to Kansas. She heads to Cape Cod, shedding all non-essentials, hoping to have the time to write her book in a rustic setting where she befriends a celebrated author’s wife, gets a job at a fish market and commences to shed all pretense of dependency. Based on Joan Anderson’s book, the directorial debut by the classically trained film composer Alexander Janko is a journey to like oneself and survive the surprises life might still have in store.

[NR]