Year By the Sea (2016)

YEAR BY THE SEA  (2016)  ¢ ¢
    D: Alexander Janko
    Karen Allen, Celia Imrie, Michael Cristofer,
    S. Epatha Merkerson, Yannick Bisson, Jane Hajduk
A woman whose marriage has  gone dead rents a house on an island off Cape Cod and moves there, hoping to find herself. Or something. The woman is played by Karen Allen, which is a good enough reason to watch  this movie, for some of us, anyway. But it's all a bit precious, with enough New Age abstraction to sink a small boat, which turns out to be the woman's main means of transportation. So she's isolated (on an island) and at sea (in a boat), exploring a feminist universe in which women are invariably sensitive and enlightened, while men who aren't downright abusive tend to be closed-off or senile, or (at best) disposable. Allen's clearly not afraid to look and act her age, letting the years and miles speak for themselves, and not doing much of anything to conceal the evidence. It's part of what makes her an interesting actress. It's just too bad she couldn't be out there rowing her boat in a more interesting movie.