You Can Count On Me: Fraternal Cinema
Wednesday, May 19, 2021 at 11:59PM In preparation for Thursday's Smackdown Team Experience is traveling back to 2000.
Mainstream cinema, such as it is, has an understandable fondness for the portrayal of interpersonal relationships. That's what happens when narrative cinema dominates and character-based drama is the rule. Nevertheless, it's interesting to note how some bonds are more privileged than others in storytelling. Romantic love is common. Friendship has its own subgenres. Parents and children are at the center of many tales. Enemies, rivals, hateful adversaries have their place too. But sibling relationships, though very common in life, are very rarely at the forefront of any given motion picture. Consequentially, when such a film appears, there's an added value to its existence. At least, that's how I feel.
Kenneth Lonergan's debut feature, You Can Count On Me, is probably one of the best examples of this rare fraternal cinema…
As someone with three sisters, two older and one younger, it's fair to say that sibling dynamics are a big part of my life and upbringing. Perhaps because of this, I pay close attention to the authenticity, or lack thereof, in the way brothers and sisters are portrayed on-screen. So often, it seems that writers fall into generalizations that lack nuance or perceptive observation. They're rich in superficial appeal but deficient in accurate representation. Furthermore, they're rarely at the forefront of a store and more a sideline quirk. When the people in question are adults rather than children, these problems become especially noticeable.
Enough negativity, I'm here to celebrate and express my love for film. Namely, the aforementioned You Can Count On Me, a miracle of a family drama presented with little fanfare but much precision. As a director, Kenneth Lonergan isn't one to show off his formal ingenuity. As a writer, he prefers lived-in conflict, unsaid hurts, and invisible bonds to pyrotechnical emotion. Any obvious demonstrativeness is left off-screen apart from some carefully chosen moments, often prompted by the structural integrity of the story or a character's organic development. This means his actors are handed meaty tridimensional parts to sink their teeth in, but prevented from indulging in voracious scene-chewing at every step.
While I love some Lonergan projects more than his first feature film as a director, You Can Count On Me has a special place in my heart. As the years go by, I become fonder of the flick, realizing how unsparingly honest its depiction of a brother-sister bond truly is. Thankfully, I didn't grow up in the same orphaned state as Sammy and Terry Prescott, the picture's complicated protagonists. Nonetheless, witnessing their first face-to-face on-screen interaction, as played by Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo, is nothing short of eerie. So many aspects of how my sisters and I behave around each other shine through the frame, be it minor loving considerations or more overt vexations.
When we find this pair, they've been living apart for a long time. Sammy's a single mother still living in her hometown while her brother is mostly absent from her life. His call to set up a meeting came like a gift from the heavens, but the conversation the two have at a lunch table quickly reveals the paradoxical fragilities and sturdiness of their bond. Linney can utter the word "fine" in an infinite amount of variations, as this scene quickly proves, weaponizing the non-committal language to showcase the distance that has grown between the two. It's obvious they care about each other, though that doesn't mean they're instantaneously happy-go-lucky when together.
In fact, it's not a show of affection that makes the walls of politeness come down and allows vulnerability to blossom. It's irritation that does the trick. Once the sister realizes her brother is only visiting because he needs cash, the scene shifts tones, the editing revealing the hurt and need each sibling feels for the other. In the exact same second, wildly different emotional tones may command the screen, be it an ersatz melancholy or the pithy pettiness of a good playground quarrel. Lonergan's direction, writing, keeps the scene from flattening into just one dimension, while Anne McCabe's editing performs a precipitous dance. Subtly and without calling attention to itself, the cutting demands we empathize with both characters, even as their interests are in direct conflict.
Most of all, the entire film belongs to Linney and Ruffalo, two genius performers delivering the best work of their illustrious careers. They suggest a shared life that extends beyond the story's limits through nuanced expression and astute line readings. We believe in their bond. It's all in the morsels of intimacy, the amusement that colors frustration, how one might smile but still radiate judgment. Moreover, they comprehend an intrinsic thing about siblings. In my experience, brothers and sisters can comfort each other like few others, their union laced with a camaraderie forged in the battleground of growing up.
However, they can also hurt, debilitate, destroy with terrifying ease. Sometimes, it's not even a direct attack that devastates our sibling. Sometimes, it's the act of cajoling, the innocent deflection, the harmless disinterest that causes most pain. Sometimes, it's familial love, for no other emotion can produce as much suffering and elation, often at the same time. You Can Count On Me encapsulates all these antithetical realities, showcasing them with warmth and humor, delicate softness, and scalpel-like sharpness. As the film shifts from tonal register to tonal register, it reflects the inner truth and turmoil of its characters and their relationship. Be it in awkward silences or the gentility of a shared smile, this film is a sweet miracle that consistently delights and wrecks me.
By the story's end, it always makes me want to hug my sisters and tell them how important they are to me. Tell them they can always count on me.
What are some of your favorite cinematic portrayals of bonds between siblings?
Recently on 2000...
• Erin Brockovich's best lines - Christopher
• The Contender and the Oscar journeys of its stars - Ben
• Jamie Bell in Billy Elliot - Cláudio
• Gay Best Friend: on Michael in Billy Elliot - Christopher
• A semi-defense of Chocolat - Ben
• Joaquin Phoenix's Ascension - Cláudio
• Eartha Kitt in The Emperor's New Groove - Nick
• A love letter to Almost Famous - Christopher
• Björk in Dancer in the Dark - Cláudio
• Crouching Tiger and the foreign Oscar race - Juan Carlos
older pieces
• Horror Actressing the women of American Psycho - Jason
• Hit Me With Your Best Shot: Crouching Tiger - Nathaniel
• Interview: Mary Harron on American Psycho - special guest Cara Seymour
• Great Moments in Gay: Bring It On - Kieran
Reader Comments (28)
I’ve always loved the Parent Trap and Freaky Friday movies but I think my favourite is What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.
Btw and off topic, I’m disappointed that there was nothing here at TFE celebrating 20 years of Moulin Rouge released in the US on May18 and in Australia May 25 2001. I found this Blog way back then when looking for like minded fans a place to share my love of MR. I’ve been dropping by regularly ever since to keep up with Oscar worthy fare and was hoping to see some MR retrospective.
My immediate response is What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
I really like Linney and Ruffalo in this movie, their chemestry is great.
From the first decade of this century I like The Savages (Linney and Seymour Hoffman) and Lars and the real girl (Gosling and Mortimer)
Joanne: they stick with 10/25/50/75/100 anniversary celebrations. So, as much as they love MR, I respect that they haven't played favourtism and done a retrospective on its 20th. Tune back in 5 years.
Off the top of my head:
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Meyerowitz Stories
American History X
The Skeleton Twins
Captain Fantastic
True Confessions
Animal Kingdom
The Little Foxes
In This Our Life
The Godfather
Dead Ringer
A Stolen Life
Raging Bull
Bad Sister
Interiors
Thor
I don't like Portugal's song this year.
Laura Linney is the best when she's playing someone's sibling - this film, The Savages, season 3 of Ozark.
I love What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? as an answer to this. Also - The Meyerowitz Stories, Rocco and His Brothers, and The Brothers Bloom. And maybe Howards End and the relevant parts of The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Agree that Linney shines brightest as a sister and would add Love Actually to the list.
My favorite movie of 2000, hands down. Due equally to Lonergan's writing (I remember thinking at the time, "This is how people actually talk") and the perfs from Linney and Ruffalo, who went on to become two of my all-time favorite actors.
And yes, it's also refreshing to see a film focus on a sibling relationship - particularly the brother-sister dynamic, which you really don't see as often on screen, at least with that much emphasis. THE SAVAGES is another one, not coincidentally starring Linney again. More recently, THE SKELETON TWINS is very underrated, I think - Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader have excellent sibling chemistry there, maybe in part because of their experience working together on SNL. And - since I just rewatched it - I do love Patrick Fugit & Zooey Deschanel's relationship in ALMOST FAMOUS, even though it isn't the center of the movie.
You do see more treatment of brother-brother and sister-sister, maybe because there's more likely to be either a closer bond or more direct rivalry/conflict, or both? Off the top of my head, THE FIGHTER, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY and HOWARDS END are some faves of mine.
As all of us readers know, You Can Always Count On Claudio.
Linney is my runner-up in that best actress line-up, not Burstyn (of course Julia was the best).
I love this film, it really does present one of the most authentic, deeply felt sibling relationships in all of cinema. The final scene at the bus stop always makes me teary. Agree with Claudio that Ruffalo and Linney have never been better, and that's really saying something.
May I answer Pablo and Tina from Law of Desire?
Best American film of the decade, and therefore, this century, and therefore of all time. It's amazing that Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo don't look anything like each other, yet there isn't a millisecond when their sibling relationship doesn't ring true. Should have won its two Oscars easily and should have been nominated for Best Picture (even with a field of only 5), Best Actor, Best Director and Best Editing (the editing is un-showy, but the pacing is perfect). The ending is an emotional tsunami.
I have 3 sisters, so of course I am drawn to the depiction of 4 sisters in Little Women.
But I also have 3 brothers, and literally no movie has ever reminded me of that situation in my life. I have some ideas why.
I am also the youngest, and no movie has shown what it is like to be treated like an additional piece of luggage in a huge family that moves a lot.
My sister became my guardian when I was a teenager, and there's no movie that reminds me of that, either.
Come on, Hollywood! Make some movies that people can relate to!
I kid. This movie is a nice depiction of a sibling relationship; it just doesn't remind me of mine. But then, what does?
I immediately flashed to Hannah and Her Sisters and Interiors, both from Woody Allen, and that made me think of Diane Keaton and then Crimes of the Heart, and Marvin's Room (I think that's the title).
Linney and Ruffalo are so good in this.
To add another: there are so many little moments between Anne Hathaway and Rosemarie DeWitt in RACHEL GETTING MARRIED that I think about all the time.
"What are some of your favorite cinematic portrayals of bonds between siblings?"
I WAS BORN, BUT... / GOOD MORNING
MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS
WRITTEN ON THE WIND
PARIS, TEXAS
HANNAH AND HER SISTERS
THE RETURN
THE TREE OF LIFE
This is a great film and definitely showcases why Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo are among the best. I bought into their sibling relationship and I love the fact that no matter how messed up these 2 are, they're always there for one another.
I should note I always enjoyed the fact that poor man's Matthew McConaughey in Josh Lucas got his ass kicked by Ruffalo and then a few years later was killed by Eric Bana so it's twice that poor man's McConaughey got his ass owned by the Hulk. If they wanted another McConaughey-like actor, couldn't they just have Matt Damon do the McConaughey part? He does a good McConaughey impression.
When I saw The Skeleton Twins I was utterly shocked because so much of my relationship with my sister was portrayed in that movie. It was almost like watching a biopic. Hence, that movie has a special place in my heart.
I love this film. Love at first sight when Mark Ruffalo appeared on my screen.
As for siblings in cinema, I think Georgia sticks out... jjl & mare winningham has rarely been better :).
choog -- ooh good call on GEORGIA
thevoid -- ah man, i really like Josh Lucas.
Pedro -- i do not have a relationship like that with my sister but agree that the skeleton twins chemistry rezlly worked.
Joanne -- what travis said though lately i am thinking of ditching our 10/25/50/75/100 thing since it's too limiting for what we feel like talking about (it was a chance to structure but we never made it quite "a thing" as we intended. At any rate i miss that movie so maybe we'll do something on June 1st for the 20th (when it hit theaters in the US)
@Cash
Have you seen Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders?
One of my favorite films focusing on the relationship between siblings is Margarethe von Trotta's MARIANNE AND JULIANE. It is an immensely ADULT movie that shows how time and personal growth impact the relationship between sisters who shared a home, but have gone on to build lives that put them on different paths but who never grow completely apart. It is a powerful film with powerful performances by Jutta Lampe and Barbara Sukowa, two of Europe's best.
^^^^This. Aka Die bleierne Zeit. RIP Jutta Lampe.
@James
I have seen The Outsiders. I really liked it. My sister wasn't a bit like Patrick Swayze, and my life wasn't much like Pony Boy's. But thanks for the suggestion!
Thanks Travis and Nathaniel. I see that MR went wide in the US on June 1st so that would be a good time to take a look back. I’m not looking for an in-depth retrospective, just a little nostalgic chatter.
Also, while it may not be original cinema, Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility really captures the sister bond so vital to a lot of Jane Austen’s writings.