Casey Affleck stars as an embittered, grieving loner who suddenly finds himself entrusted with the care of his teenage nephew. That’s the “what happens” of Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea, but the film’s sturdy, subtle magic lies in the “how”—the way Lonergan and his actors capture the way people talk, and what they care about, in a way so detailed, it’s almost Dickensian. Like all of Lonergan’s movies, this one allows you to live with characters until they feel like people you know. Sometimes they’re people you don’t like very much. But somehow, by the end, they’re your people.
