http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/manchester-by-the-sea-the-story-behind-sundance-2016s-best-movie-20160201

"It's funny, I started out trying to make a film about grief," he says, when the phrase comes up. "About telling a story involving sorrow and regret. And as it went on, it occurred to me that it's a lot more about love than I'd realized. I think I'm always just interested in stories about people who love each other. I find it very touching how much people care about each other, even when people don’t get along or something terrible happens between them. People don't always care about their parents, their children, their brothers or sisters — but when they do, it's pretty powerful. It's almost not worth being alive if you don't have that connection."

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/22/urban-blight-3 A kind of bewildered atmosphere rises up around Kenneth Lonergan’s characters as they talk. Despite their verbosity, powers of observation, and critical acumen, Lonergan’s mostly Manhattan-based creations—they don’t journey far—are at the mercy of their own innocence: they yammer on about their insights but fall short of perception. Often they take life for granted until it happens to them; when it does, their illusions devolve into soul-crushing disillusion.