A movie labelled ‘one of the best of the 21st century’ is now available to watch on Netflix.
Released in 2016, Manchester by the Sea starred Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, and Lucas Hedges.
It follows Lee Chandler (Affleck), a depressed and anti-social janitor living in Boston.
One day he receives a call informing him that his brother Joe, who lives in Manchester-by-the-Sea has suffered a heart attack, but he dies before Lee makes it to the hospital.
With his brother’s funeral delayed, Lee decides to stay in the small town and act as the legal guardian of his nephew, Patrick (Hedges).
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As the pair both navigate their grief, it also emerges that Lee is dealing with the ongoing guilt about being responsible for a house fire that killed his three children.
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The film received critical acclaim and won Oscars for best actor for Affleck and best original screenplay. It was also nominated for best picture, best director, best supporting actor (Hedges) and best supporting actress (Michelle Williams as Lee’s ex-wife Randi).
It was also nominated for five Golden Globes and six Baftas.
Grossing $79 million ($61 million) worldwide against a budget of $9 million (£6.9 million), the movie was critically acclaimed too.
‘Manchester by the Sea is heartbreaking and exhausting, and a shining cinematic study of individual suffering,’ Metro wrote in its review.
‘A wrenching family tragedy is dramatised with the depth of a high-quality American stage piece in Manchester by the Sea,’ The Hollywood Reporter wrote.
‘[A] beautifully textured, richly enveloping drama about how a death in the family forces a small-town New Englander to confront a past tragedy anew,’ Variety added.
In an interview with Deadline, Affleck spoke about the effect the script had on him when he first read it.
‘Almost immediately I was just absorbing it like it was some piece of nonfiction; some complete piece of writing that was, in and of itself, a thing. Not a blueprint to be built upon. It was complete,’ he said.
‘The emotions really snuck up on me. I was crying at the end, and I had been laughing throughout.’
Manchester by the Sea is streaming on Netflix.
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