By Jacob Hall/Aug. 24, 2016 9:30 am EST
The first Manchester by the Sea trailer has arrived and it’s full of drama and bittersweet laughs and glimpses at complex performances from the likes of Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams. Oh, and there are Massachusetts accents. Oh boy, are there Massachusetts accents.
The film follows Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck), who returns to his hometown following the death of his brother (Kyle Chandler) and finds himself made legal guardian of his nephew (Lucas Hedges). Naturally, other family members and friends walk into the picture, including his separated wife (Michelle Williams). Maybe it’s all of the praise I’ve been hearing about this film since January, but this looks so very good.
Our own Angie Han reviewed Manchester by the Sea from Sundance and gave it a perfect 10 out of 10 score, writing:
The film is set to screen at the New York Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, so expect another wave of reviews and reactions then. In the meantime, here is the official synopsis for the film:
It’s easy to imagine a version of this story that smooths over ugly, raw emotions in service of a happy ending, or, alternately, a version of this story that devolves into simple misery porn. Manchester by the Sea takes a more humane approach, guided by Lonergan’s deep empathy for his characters. The world around Lee may judge the way he reacts to the blows life has dealt him, or may not even realize what he’s dealing with in the first place. But Lonergan presents a portrait of grief that feels almost honest in its ugliness, because it feels truthful. Redemption and hope are hard to come by for these characters, but they’re apparently nearly as impossible to extinguish completely.
After the death of his older brother Joe (Kyle Chandler), Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) is shocked to learn that Joe has made him sole guardian of his nephew Patrick (Lucas Hedges). Taking leave of his job, Lee reluctantly returns to Manchester-by-the-Sea to care for Patrick, a spirited 15-year-old, and is forced to deal with a past that separated him from his wife Randi (Michelle Williams) and the community where he was born and raised. Bonded by the man who held their family together, Lee and Patrick struggle to adjust to a world without him. In his first film since 2011’s acclaimed Margaret, Lonergan once again proves himself a powerful and visionary storyteller as he seamlessly weaves past and present together, crafting a tension-filled tale that deftly eschews sentimentality in favor of penetrating emotional insight and deeply affecting human relationships.
