''Year by the Sea'' is a 2016 American

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film starring Karen Allen, Yannick Bisson,

S. Epatha Merkerson Sharon Epatha Merkerson (born November 28, 1952) is a film, stage, and television actor. Known by her stage name S. Epatha Merkerson, she has received numerous high-profile accolades for her work, including an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, ...

, Michael Cristofer, and Celia Imrie. It was written, directed and scored by composer Alexander Janko in his directorial debut. The film is based on Joan Anderson's 2000 ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' best-selling memoir ''A Year by the Sea: Thoughts of an Unfinished Woman''.

Premise

Hoping to reclaim who she was before marriage and children, an empty nester retreats to Cape Cod where she embarks upon a quest to set herself free.

Cast

* Karen Allen as Joan Anderson * Celia Imrie as

Joan Erikson Joan Mowat Erikson (born Sarah Lucretia Serson; June 27, 1903 – August 3, 1997) was well known as the collaborator with her husband, Erik Erikson, and as an author, educator, craftsperson, and dance ethnographer."Joan Erikson, Life Cycles Theor ...

as Liz * Michael Cristofer as Robin * Monique Gabriela Curnen as Luce *

Jane Hajduk Timothy Alan Dick (born June 13, 1953), known professionally as Tim Allen, is an American actor and comedian. He is known for playing Tim "The Toolman" Taylor on the ABC sitcom ''Home Improvement'' (1991–1999) and Mike Baxter on the ABC/Fo ...

as Judy * Kohler McKenzie as Billy *

Alvin Epstein Alvin Epstein (May 14, 1925 – December 10, 2018) was an American actor and director. He was a founding member of both the American Repertory Theater and Yale Repertory Theatre. He was particularly admired for his performances in the plays of Samu ...

Erik Erikson Erik Homburger Erikson (born Erik Salomonsen; 15 June 1902 – 12 May 1994) was a German-American developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst known for his theory on psychological development of human beings. He coined the phrase identity cr ...

Locations

''Year by the Sea'' was filmed in Massachusetts at various locations on Cape Cod, including Wellfleet, Orleans, Chatham and Eastham.

Release

''Year by the Sea"'' opened at the 2016 Vail Film Festival in Vail, Colorado, where the film won the Audience Award and Karen Allen was honored with the Vanguard Award for her role, along with her lifetime achievements in film. The film played at a total of 18 film festivals throughout 2016, earning a total of 16 awards. In January 2017, the film was released by independent distributor Real Women Make Waves at select Florida theaters. In May 2017, the film was released in select New England theaters. In September 2017, the film launched its national release at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas in New York City, ultimately playing in more than 100 theaters nationwide. In late 2017, the film became available for rent and purchase on

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in the US and on

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in the US and Canada. It launched for rent/sale on Amazon UK in July 2019.

Reception

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 50% based on 24 reviews. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 43 out of 100 based on nine critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Glenn Kenny Glenn Kenny (born August 8, 1959) is an American film critic and journalist. He writes for ''The New York Times'' and '' RogerEbert.com''. Biography Kenny attended William Paterson University, where he majored in English literature.The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' gave the film a positive review, calling it "refreshing in its depiction of diverse, older female characters." Sheri Linden of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' also gave the film a positive review, saying, "In Allen's spark and grace, there's a real sense of discovery." Alan Scherstuhl of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'' wrote that "the film has soothing, even therapeutic value." Conversely, Bill Goodykoontz of ''

The Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $3 ...

'' awarded the film a score of two stars out of five, and ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''s Susan Wloszczyna gave the film two stars out of four. Ty Burr of ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' awarded the film one-and-a-half stars. Al Alexander of '' The Patriot Ledger'' gave the film a negative review and wrote that it "is little more than a lame excuse for good actors to embarrass themselves by uttering eye-rolling bromides about aging gracefully."

Awards

Audience Choice: Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival; Naperville Independent Film Festival;

Berkshire International Film Festival The Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) was founded in 2005 by Kelley Vickery in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. The four-day festival features independent films for filmmakers and film aficionados, with showings of features, documentar ...

(tie); Vail Film Festival Best Feature: On Location: Memphis International Film and Music Festival Best Screenplay: Grand Prize - Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival; (Honors) Outstanding Achievement - Newport Beach Film Festival Best Music: Alexander Janko - Hamilton Film Festival Overall Awards: Carpe Diem Andretta Award -

Woodstock Film Festival The Woodstock Film Festival is an American film festival that was launched in 2000 by filmmakers Meira Blaustein and Laurent Rejto with the goal to bring high quality independent film to the Hudson Valley region. The festival takes place each fa ...

Actor Awards: Best Actress (Karen Allen) — Naperville Independent Film Festival & Hamilton Film Festival; Women in Film Award (Karen Allen) — St. Louis International Film Festival; Creative Vision Award (Karen Allen) — Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival; Vanguard Award (Karen Allen) — Vail Film Festival; Best Ensemble Cast — Best Actors Film Festival

References

External links

* * {{Rotten Tomatoes, year_by_the_sea 2016 comedy-drama films 2016 films 2016 comedy films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films American comedy-drama films 2016 directorial debut films Films set in Massachusetts Films based on biographies Films based on non-fiction books American biographical films