Starring Casey Affleck, Kyle Chandler, Michelle Williams, Lucas Hedges, Gretchen Mol, Matthew Broderick, Tate Donovan

(7-Very Good Film)

Well-acted. Emotional. Strong.

Slice of life drama starring Casey Affleck as a broken man working as a maintenance guy in Boston. His struggles to take care of his newly orphaned nephew and his brother’s burial are intersected by flashbacks revealing just what happened in his life to make him hide himself away. It’s a strong character piece that avoids trumped-up drama and sentimentality in favor of humor and quiet moments. Time will tell, but it reminded me more of the great sixties “kitchen sink” dramas made in the UK (This Sporting Life) than it did of the litter of Oscar-bait movies made for prestige that wash out after a few years. Affleck effortlessly moves between the painful and the humorous moments in the script.

-Walter Tyrone Howard-

(689)