Retro Sundance: 2000's You Can Count on Me
Wednesday, January 27, 2016 at 12:00PM Team Experience is looking back on past Sundance winners since we aren't attending this year. Here's Kieran on Kenneth Lonergan's directorial debut
In many of the write-ups about Kenneth Lonergan's delicate and perceptive character study, the one aspect people seem to be on the same page about is the believable sibling dynamic between Sammy (Laura Linney) and Terry Prescott (Mark Ruffalo). Watching Sammy and Terry's first face-to-face interactions, I thought "Yes! This is how brothers and sisters behave!" It's such a tricky thing to depict, and it's often done poorly. How does a writer/director effectively convey a relationship between two adults whose shared histories are such a constant, inescapable presence? It's a subtle tightrope to walk.
Watch the way Sammy's excitement, telegraphed via Laura Linney's erratic, double-wave and her subsequent warm embrace of Terry after a long absence. The initial excitement quickly gives way to all the shit (pardon my French, but there's really no other word that feels appropriate) that often rests between two siblings. Does Linney have a natural aplomb at believably and compellingly selling this relationship? Perhaps. It's interesting to juxtapose her wonderful turn here against her equally accomplished performance in The Savages where she's playing the opposite side of the fuck-up/reliable sibling dyad.
I would wager that when considering Laura Linney (her television work aside) most think of her supporting roles in The Truman Show, Mystic River and Kinsey. Neither one of these turns are wholly uninteresting, but all seem to rest at least partially on very overt externalities (hyper-realism, geographically specific speech, and period, respectively). Then there's Linney's distinctive voice, which has such a unique range that can express deep, unsurprised disappointment and shrill moments of panicky actressing tailor-made for awards clips (I mean this in the best way possible). But all of these factors seem to betray what a watchful, reactive and interestingly modulated performer Linney truly is. In You Can Count on Me's restaurant scene, where several things are laid quite bare fairly early on (a risky move handled deftly), Linney builds to one of her trademark, unfussy and fascinating explosions. But, it is in the moments where she's regarding Terry with a silence occasionally punctuated by loaded chuckles (her response to the Ruffalo's A-plus line "This is the haute-cuisine of garments" is so tiny and perfect) that Linney does her best acting. It's quite the balancing act to behold as Linney simultaneously conveys Sammy's sizing up of Terry and her feeble attempts to disguise the fact that she's doing so before it all goes to hell and the older sister comes out, rife with judgment and apprehension.
She is matched evenly by Ruffalo, who seems to have such a sure hand at portraying selfish (but not malicious) men, too aware of their own charms and too willing to state the awful truth of any given situation, but for all the wrong reasons. Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo don't look at all like siblings. Linney reads so uppercrust New England (even in Mystic River) and Mark Ruffalo has a certain effortless, scruffy charm that seems to suggest the exact opposite...and that he perhaps only showers on odd days, in the case of this film. In that respect the film starts off at a disadvantage. Lonergan seems to know this and puts in the work on both the script and direction level, making these characters lived-in and connected. The result could have easily read as very cynical, pointed and self-consciously clever. But, like even the most tumultuous of brother-sister relationships, there is a tough, honest but warm heart beating throughout this movie. It's so great to see Linney and Ruffalo (now thrice Oscar-nominated each) and Kenneth Lonergan (who wowed with his follow-up Margaret and is getting raves for Manchester By the Sea, currently playing at Sundance) still turning in interesting work years after their paths crossed on this beautiful Sundance winner.
Even the ancillary afterthoughts, from the poster to its title (wisely never uttered by either character, but rather running through the film like a constant, unwavering sentiment) seem to suggest a film that one can sit down and be enveloped in like a security blanket, especially if you have siblings. And the real treat? I never once, not for even a second, got the impression that Lonergan was consciously trying to make a warm or enjoyable film. It happened. And that feeling is birthed from well-observed truth.
Previously on Retro Sundance
Desert Hearts (86), Brave Little Toaster (88), Longtime Companion (90), Poison (91), Run Lola Run (99), You Can Count on Me (00), Memento (01), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (01)
Current Sundance
Birth of a Nation, Tallulah, Manchester by the Sea and Christine, Indignation, Certain Women
Reader Comments (24)
Back when you saw Mark Ruffalo and thought "What effortless cloud did this man just float in here on?" His calling card was unmannered, completely natural and unassuming poignancy.
It's actually disturbing to watch him act today. :(
Excuse me, I'm going to put this on the top of my Netflix queue now....
That scene of Laura Linney in the car is such a classic, like its own little one-act play.
Beautiful write-up! I don't think I've ever seen a film that better encapsulates sibling relationships. That final scene with the two of them is everything.
Hayden, was the swipe at Ruffalo necessary for this celebration of this great movie?
Literally just watched this for the first time last night after years of meaning to see it and I must say this movie really lived up to that hype. I absolutely loved it and after seeing once, i can definitely see this one having great rewatch value. The whole cast is superb. After watching the film i kept saying that is one of the best indie dramedies ive seen in years, but of course it's been years since it came out. Excellent film!!!
Hayden W.: He's still capable of that recently (Foxcatcher, Begin Again), but his most exposed work very recently is Spotlight (where he just oversells that last scene, embarrassing himself to an Oscar nom) and his Avengers work. (Which though very good (I actually think it's better than his Foxcatcher work), is more mannered than where he started. It kind of needs to be (The Hulk, after all), but I can get reticence over him moving in that direction.)
Should have been Ruffalo's first nomination.
I love this movie SO MUCH. It's one of those movies that really taught me what I'm looking for in a film. I love it so obsessively much, that, oh, what the hell, here are 12 things I love about it:
Terry thinks staying home for a little while might be a good idea
Terry's not the kind of guy everyone says he is
Sammy's post-it removals
Sammy drives back from her sin
Mabel after the new screen policy, no longer so fresh
"When you go sailing through the windshield, that's liable to be uncomfortable, too."
"I feel like I'm never gonna see you again."
Terry catches the moth
"Are you out of your mind?"
"I like paperwork"
"Now you saw me, okay?"
Terry and Rudy crack up on the stairs
I loved this movie for so many reasons... I became a big Ruffalo fan after this.
Ruffalo and Linney are a great screen combination, why hasn't some director or producer re-teamed these 2 in something?
Other examples of screen couples that should have been cast again in another film include:
Laura Linney & Liam Neeson
Mark Ruffalo & Julianne Moore
Keira Knightley and James McAvoy
Ralph Fiennes & Kristin Scott Thomas (add your own favourite)
Linney deserved the Oscar that year. I haven't seen this film in a long time but that car scene is still with me. Time for a revisit.
Between Joan Allen, Ellen Burstyn, Laura Linney and Julia Roberts, Best Actress 2000 was a great roster. It's topped only by 2004, in my estimation as the best lineup of that decade.
And if Juliette Binoche had been replaced by Bjork, the lineup would've been legendary!
Wonderful movie. Not much on a cinematic level but performances and script are just wonderful. The final scene with Ruffalo and Linney is incredibly moving.
Really terrific piece. Truly, a pleasure to read.
I love this movie. Top 5 of American movies of the that decade.
Perfect writeup of one of my all-time favorites. Even though I'm an only child, or maybe because of that fact, I've always been fascinated by stories about sibling dynamics. And how often do you get movies focused on the brother-sister relationship? Hardly ever, which is really a shame considering what fertile ground it presents. Laura Linney gets extra props for being in *two* of them, and being so good in both.
And yes, like many, I first discovered Mark Ruffalo in this film, and have been in love with him ever since. :)
One more thing: I loved to see Linney introducing Rowlands' honorary Oscar because I've always thought of Linney-Ruffalo as the second best brother-sister relationship of all time, the best being Cassavetes and Rowlands in Love Streams.
I don't know if Lonergan admires Cassavetes, but for a fan of Cassavetes it's impossible not to see the way his deep humanism and empathy are reflected in movies like You Can Count on Me. Lonergan's movie is not fluid and experimental like Cassavetes early work but it seems very close to Love Streams, Cassavetes's most restrained work and his best picture, maybe.
such a great take on one of my favourite films [i will love it forever for introducing me to ruffy and the lovely laura linney]. i got terribly nostalgic for the film just reading this. sixteen years later - what? how is that even possible?
"..too willing to state the awful truth of any given situation, but for all the wrong reasons." - what a perfect description of a ruffy trademark
Love this piece! i haven't seen this in years and you definitely make me wanna revisit.
Love
This is one of my favourite films, so thanks for the wonderful analysis/introduction! The writing is so true since I have a brother whom I love and hate at the same time haha. Always get me teary in the last scene. This is where I first fell in love with Laura Linney (who is still Oscarless....).
This film is one my to watch list ever since it was in the theaters. Your beautiful write-up urges me to now really finally see it.
An amazing piece of acting and writing. Thanks for the remind. Now I need to go watch it again. I think I sooo loved this film for everyuthing it wasn't. The film andits characters had an authentic purity--no matter how flawed---at heart. It was definitely a reminder of how good film can be...when its story is treated with care.
Hayden. You're wrong. Period. Ruffalo was, and still is, a marvel.