Manchester by the Sea

Director: Kenneth Lonergan

2016 / 137min / DCP

“A modern day tragedy, Kenneth Lonergan’s New England community study is a masterful exploration of grief and guilt. We follow Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) as he returns to the titular fishing village where his working-class family has lived for generations, to take care of his teenage nephew Patrick (Lucas Hedges). There, he is forced to confront his past and the tragedy that separated him from both his ex-wife, Randi (Michelle Williams), and the community where he was born and raised. Between anguish and hope, Lonergan delivers a powerful drama about the difficulty but necessity of self-forgiveness.”—Adeline Monzier

“Manchester by the Sea feels like a quiet, lost wave that imperceptibly breaks on pebbles, and reveals, in that same water pounding movement, a young actor who sparkles: Lucas Hedges. Melodramas, whether American or otherwise, always make us believe that they are going to sacrifice a son, a daughter, until the moment of divine intervention. In this film, Hedges is, at the same time, the son to be sacrificed and the divine intervention: this is the exact definition of a revelation.”—Christophe Honoré

Introduced by Christophe Honoré on Saturday, March 11th