Manchester by the Sea (2016) on Netflix
Lee Chandler lives alone in Boston, working as a handyman. When his brother Joe dies, he returns to Manchester-by-the-Sea and learns Joe has named him guardian of his teenage nephew, Patrick.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb7.8/10363,381 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes96%
Trailer
Plot summary
A phone call sends Lee Chandler north from Boston, where he works as a handyman and lives alone, to the hospital where his brother Joe has died. He stays in Manchester-by-the-Sea to break the news to Joe's sixteen-year-old son, Patrick, and to make the funeral arrangements. The ground is frozen, so Joe cannot be buried until spring. Joe's will names Lee as Patrick's guardian, which would mean moving back to the town he left years ago. Patrick wants to keep his school, his teams, his friends and the boat his father left him, and argues it is his to run. Lee takes a room in Joe's house and weighs a decision he never agreed to.
Cast
- Mary Mallenas Sharon
Show all 20 cast
- Richard Donellyas Mr. Martinez (1st Tenant)
- Virginia Loring Cookeas Mrs. Groom (2nd tenant)
- Ben Hansonas Lenny - the bartender
- Ben O'Brienas Young Patrick
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Manchester by the Sea (2016)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Matt Damon was originally to star in Manchester by the Sea but had no break in his schedule for another year, so Casey Affleck replaced him in the lead role; Damon said he "wouldn't give this role up to anybody but Casey Affleck."
- Kenneth Lonergan originally planned to end the film with a retreating drone shot of a flashback of Casey Affleck's and Michelle Williams' characters, their children and extended family, on a boat; the scene was dropped as too expensive to film, though Matt Damon said the film's unexpected financial success meant it could have been filmed after all.
- Manchester by the Sea became the first film released by a digital streaming service to be nominated for Best Picture at the 89th Academy Awards; it won two Oscars, for Best Original Screenplay for Kenneth Lonergan and Best Actor for Casey Affleck.
- After its Sundance premiere, Amazon Studios bought U.S. distribution rights to Manchester by the Sea for $10 million, the second-largest disclosed purchase in the festival's history behind The Birth of a Nation at $17.5 million.
- For scenes reflecting Lee's "interior landscape", composer Lesley Barber sent her music to her daughter, an opera major, then recorded her singing in her dorm room via Skype; Barber said the confined space made for a "perfect sound".
- The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ruled the film's score ineligible for Oscar consideration because of the volume of classical music on the soundtrack; composer Lesley Barber said she accepted the decision and supported her director's choice to use the pieces.
