Manchester by the Sea is a 2016 American drama film written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan. Starring Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler and Lucas Hedges, the film focuses on the uncle who has to look after his teenage nephew after the boy's father dies. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2016 and began a limited release on November 18, 2016, before going wide on December 16, 2016. The film was released to universal acclaim, with Rotten Tomatoes gave an approval rating of 96%, based on 356 reviews, with an average rating of 8.8/10 and Metacritic gave a score of 96 out of 100, based on 53 reviews.