When I was fifteen, an old childhood friend of mine unexpectedly died in his sleep. He was three weeks shy of sixteen, and was a weird little kid (probably why we got along) and a good/equally weird teenager. His life should not have ended so soon, but it did without reason. I tell you this because I remembered this experience as I watched the Best Picture nominated Movie Manchester by the Sea. A movie that let me know life doesn't have all the answers you need, and there are some things you can't get over or move past because you can only learn to live with them. I admired this movie for not talking down to me like it expects me to learn something and discover that maybe my friend's death had a higher meaning. It silently patted me on the shoulder with a look in its eyes of knowing what I feel and telling me it understands all at once. I understand why this movie was nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award (and yes, I also understand why Casey Affleck won Best Actor).

Lee Chandler (played with morbid acceptance by Casey Affleck) is a maintenance man for an apartment complex. Early on, the film gives us a slight dose of cathartic satisfaction when he performs every customer service rep's dream of telling off a grouchy tenant. He does not let loose some pent up steam, he just calls her like he's seeing her with no real expectation that either of them will feel better. This is the key in which Affleck explores his character's scales. There are few changes from here, but it works.

Within the first fifteen minutes of the movie, we get the news that Lee Chandler's older brother has died and left the care of his son named Patrick (played by Lucas Hedges) in Chandler's hands. He now has to get to know his nephew, deal with the logistics of his brother's death, and try to get through it having lost so much of himself over the years. Essentially, you are simply watching a brief period in the life of these characters and the events that led up to this. There is not much of a plot, but with such interesting and relatable characters, this movie doesn't need one.

I can't say that the dialogue is completely realistic, but I can say that the characters are. And come to think of it, maybe the dialogue isn't realistic to me because I have not experienced what these characters have. Particularly in the teenagers, the dialogue sounds like what a grown adult thinks a teenager sounds like rather than what a teenager actually sounds like. But at the same time, it didn't sound fake either. I suppose what I wanted was to understand why everyone was the way they were in the film and it gave me just enough so that I can feel satisfied with what I learned but curious enough that I wanted to dig deeper.

For example, Patrick Chandler has a mother whom he has been kept away from for a while. The movie focuses on why Patrick was kept away and makes you want to know more about how the mother became such a bad influence. This is the strength of Manchester by the Sea; in its reluctance for explicitness, it surprisingly makes each moment and each character come to life like we are hearing about real people we used to know.

If you are a parent of young kids, I would take caution before renting this movie. It is not the friendliest film toward that dynamic. And if you have qualms about Affleck's criminal accusations, I understand if you choose not to see it. But I recommend it because this is an example of Hollywood taking a cliché and doing something, not only new, but good with it.