Heres the thing that makes the movie so interesting
Lee is clearly a broken man, and the viewer wants to know why. So the storyteller let's us know half-way through the film. A tragedy this is truly incomprehensible-- the loss of three young childrent, and in addition knowing that his irresponsible behavior was a contributing cause. His wife has left him and moved on. And the one source of support remaining of love and support in just life is now gone.
Yet through the death of his brother, Lee is given a chance at living a normal life again, or if not some degree of redemption. He has a house to stay in, a nephew that cares about him, and despite the whispers there are others willing to give him a chance to make a living. There are even women that express interest in him. All the pieces are there for a great comeback story
But the storyteller doesn't give us that. What Lee has experienced doesn't make it possible. He dreads his return to Boston, tries to wrap up his responsibilities as quickly as possible, rebuffs his nephrws efforts to bond, and ignores the advances of potential romantic interests. Even his wife has forgiven him and appears to want him in her life again. As badly as we all want to have him just say "yes" at every turn, it just doesn't happen. Not because he doesn't want to have some form of relief, but because he has gone so far down a road, past the concept of self pity and sadness, that he is not capable of functioning in what we all might consider to be a normal living situation. The storyteller's point is crystal clear by the end of the film-- in real life the grand resolution sometimes just doesn't happen,
or even come close to happening. Some people just continue to suffer, whether through choice or through the inability to shake their memories. Lee cannot square what he has done, and therefore cannot accept the various opportunities that are presented to him. As a father, i found some of the scenes here extremely poignant, and thought it played more like a nightmare than a feature film.