And they can relapse and not always be ready for the breakthrough moment toward which the story seems to be pointing. The result is something that feels more akin to a full meal than the usual cinematic popcorn. At the outset, the leading character could not be less prepossessing. Lee Chandler (Affleck) works as a handyman in some Boston apartment buildings, cleaning toilets, shoveling snow, behaving rudely. One night, he provokes a fight in a bar. He seems like an ass, a no- account. Some brief ocean- fishing flashbacks show him as close to his brother Joe (Kyle Chandler) and the latter’s young son Patrick, but that’s long ago. Abruptly, Joe dies of congestive heart failure, which not only results in the woefully ill- suited Lee suddenly becoming guardian for the now- 1. Patrick (Lucas Hedges), but also exposes the numerous rifts in the family; there are a lot of burned bridges here, and Lee is in no way equipped or emotionally disposed to try to repair them. Still, there are legal responsibilities to be faced and rituals to be performed, forcing some contact most of the family would prefer to avoid. As word gets around, there are whispers about “the Lee Chandler,” suggesting a notoriety about him in these parts, and Lonergan neatly shuffles the dramaturgical deck to introduce information that will later come to the fore. Among the seeds planted are Lee’s past marriage to Randi (Michelle Williams), now entirely out of the picture, along with their two daughters, similarly missing, and Patrick’s mother Elise (Gretchen Mol), whose absence, in the light of the boy’s father’s death, throws responsibility for him to Lee. For fully an hour, Lonergan makes these seemingly mundane characters and situations intriguing and interesting; one is assured that we’re just seeing pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that will eventually be filled in. Sure enough, the big event, the tragedy that changed all the characters’ lives forever, is revealed at the one- hour point. It’s a devastating occurrence, to be sure, but one with nuances of responsibility and shades of gray in terms of the potential ramifications for those who will have to deal with it for the rest of their lives. How the characters cope and relate after this is emotionally and psychologically fraught and often powerful, but the focus narrows down to Lee’s relationship with the teenaged Patrick. The latter confounds his uncle by his constant screwing around with local girls, while Lee continues to wrestle with his responsibilities toward the kid and, briefly, Randi’s renewed emotionalism. New Films Just Added to the Screening Calendar! We'ev just added four more films to this year's 'Awards Season Screening Series,' which continues this Thursday with. Kenneth Lonergan's latest, starring Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams and Lucas Hedges, is a wrenching drama about a grief-stricken New England family. Drowned out by the sound of the iPhone 7 launch this week, you might have missed that Apple has upgraded its smartwatch, too. The Apple Watch Series 2, they say, has. UPDATE Amazon has acquired domestic rights for Manchester By The Sea, a deal Deadline exclusively revealed. EXCLUSIVE: Amazon is closing a $10 million deal for. Variety is pleased to announce its annual list of 10 Actors to Watch, an honor the publication has bestowed since 1998. Past honorees include many future. Amazon came to the Sundance Film Festival with its wallet open back in January, snapping up the rights to six films. The streaming service and fledgling studio’s. Everything Lonergan serves up is arguably germane, but the pace noticeably slackens in the second half; some of the uncle/nephew scenes feel repetitive and the dramatic destination begins to feel like it’s just being pushed further and further down the track. The feeling here is that removing somewhere around 1. From certain angles now resembling a scruffy version of the late Patrick Mc. Goohan, Affleck goes deeper here than ever before, his odd posturing, hesitations and sometimes scratchy speech now all seeming like a meaningful outgrowth and expression of his complex character, no longer sometimes affectations. Young Hedges, perhaps best known for his appearances in two Wes Anderson films, Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel, has a lot more to work with here and thoroughly impresses. Williams shares an extremely emotional late scene with Affleck that’s written in a very daring way, with their characters pushing adamantly in completely opposite directions and using different styles of expression; it almost comes off, but not quite. In a different way, a stilted luncheon reunion between Patrick and his mother and his previously unmet new stepfather (Matthew Broderick) feels rather archly artificial and unconvincing. From a box- office point of view, this makes a big difference, but the dramatic results prove more than sound. Production: Pearl Street Films, The Media Farm, K Period Media, The A / Middleton Project, B Story. Cast: Casey Affleck, Michele Williams, Kyle Chandler, Lucas Hedges, CJ Wilson, Heather Burns, Tate Donovan, Josh Hamilton, Anna Baryshnikov, Matthew Broderick, Gretchen Mol. Director- screenwriter: Kenneth Lonergan. Producers: Chris Moore, Lauren Beck, Kevin J. Walsh, Matt Damon, Kimberly Steward. Executive producers: Josh Godfrey, John Krasinski, Declan Baldwin, Bill Migliore. Director of photography: Jody Lee Lipes. Production designer: Ruth De Jong. Costume designer: Melissa Toth. Editor: Jennifer Lame. Music: Lesley Barber. Casting: Douglas Abiel. Not rated, 1. 37 minutes.
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