Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 29-October-06
Spoiler Rating: High

You Can Count on Me (2000)

"You Can Count on Me" is about a single mother living in upstate New York. It takes place over a few busy but unexceptional weeks within the confines of a small town. It has a bit of sex and a smidgeon of violence, but mostly consists of everyday dialogue between people you and I might know. From such material filmmaker Kenneth Lonergan and his cast spin a story that's engrossing, funny, truthful, and moving. It's a remarkable feat of talent.

The movie begins on a fateful night in the early '80s when a couple dies in a car accident and leaves their two children orphaned. This sets the stage for all that follows, including themes of family, hardship, and the search for meaningful connection. Now an adult, their daughter Sammy (Laura Linney) is raising her son Rudy (Rory Culkin) in the house her parents left her, ostensibly leading a respectable life with Sunday sermons and a steady job at the bank. With eagerness and trepidation, she learns that her brother Terry is coming to visit after a separation of many months. She puts on nice clothes, makes a lasagna, and whips up a batch of cookies for his arrival. But the homecoming doesn't go exactly as planned.

At first glance Terry (Mark Ruffalo) is a screw-up, a feckless wanderer who tells Sammy he can only stop one night and needs to borrow some money. He hurts her, which is despicable, but after he decides to stay awhile his deeper nature, her deeper nature, and their exceedingly deep bond comes to light. First, Terry becomes the father figure that young Rudy needs, or at least the cool uncle who offers respite from maternal supervision and treats him (perhaps foolishly) like an adult. Second, cracks in Sammy's upright demeanor begin to show while her brother happens to be around. Even as her boyfriend (Jon Tenney) gets serious, she has a fling with her new (and married) boss, who's played with understated desperation by Matthew Broderick. This puts a kink in her plan to rehabilitate Terry with the help of a minister (Lonergan) who advises her to set a good example of proper living. It also helps her to realize that she coddles men for whom she feels sorry, which has been both a boon and a bane to her brother.

Lonergan weaves wonderful threads of humanity and understanding into this simple tale. His origin as a playwright is shown by the fact that he says as much with the words he does use as with those he doesn't (specifically, the title). All of the actors match his fluency at every step, making the characters believable and worthy of sympathy. Most people weren't orphaned in childhood, but most have felt cut off from affection at some time. Lucky are those who have someone rooting for them wherever they may be. "You Can Count on Me" is about such a blessing in all its messy glory, and lucky is the viewer who finds it.

Copyright © 2006 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.