Manchester by the Sea
Academy Award × 2
After his older brother passes away, Lee Chandler is forced to return home to care for his 16-year-old nephew. There he is compelled to deal with a tragic past that separated him from his family and the community where he was born and raised.
What critics thought
Kenneth Lonergan's film earned some of the strongest notices of the decade, with critics consistently singling out Casey Affleck's quietly devastated lead performance, Michelle Williams' brief but shattering scene opposite him, and a screenplay that earns its grief partly through well-timed moments of dark levity. The rare dissent came not from any defect in craft but from the film's deliberate emotional withholding — whether its protagonist's silence and suffering suffocates rather than deepens the drama is the only real fault line in an otherwise near-unanimous reception.
“beautifully textured, richly enveloping drama”
Justin Chang·Variety
“the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time”
Matt Zoller Seitz·RogerEbert.com
“carefully constructed, compellingly acted, and often hard to watch”
Anthony Lane·The New Yorker
“impact of this impressive drama is suffocated by the silence and suffering of its central character”
Lanre Bakare·The Guardian
“the exquisitely crafted, emotionally ragged Manchester doesn't just ask for time and effort; it earns it”
Leah Greenblatt·Entertainment Weekly
Genres
Drama
Cast & Crew
DirectorKenneth Lonergan
StarringCasey Affleck, Lucas Hedges, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, C.J. Wilson
ComposerLesley Barber
Manchester by the Sea
Academy Award × 2
After his older brother passes away, Lee Chandler is forced to return home to care for his 16-year-old nephew. There he is compelled to deal with a tragic past that separated him from his family and the community where he was born and raised.
What critics thought
Kenneth Lonergan's film earned some of the strongest notices of the decade, with critics consistently singling out Casey Affleck's quietly devastated lead performance, Michelle Williams' brief but shattering scene opposite him, and a screenplay that earns its grief partly through well-timed moments of dark levity. The rare dissent came not from any defect in craft but from the film's deliberate emotional withholding — whether its protagonist's silence and suffering suffocates rather than deepens the drama is the only real fault line in an otherwise near-unanimous reception.
“beautifully textured, richly enveloping drama”
Justin Chang·Variety
“the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time”
Matt Zoller Seitz·RogerEbert.com
“carefully constructed, compellingly acted, and often hard to watch”
Anthony Lane·The New Yorker
“impact of this impressive drama is suffocated by the silence and suffering of its central character”
Lanre Bakare·The Guardian
“the exquisitely crafted, emotionally ragged Manchester doesn't just ask for time and effort; it earns it”
Leah Greenblatt·Entertainment Weekly
Genres
Drama
Cast & Crew
DirectorKenneth Lonergan
StarringCasey Affleck, Lucas Hedges, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, C.J. Wilson
ComposerLesley Barber