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Third
Keswick Film Festival
15-17 February 2002 |
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“An exquisitely observed, perfectly pitched little
gem.” - NEW YORK TIMES
You Can Count On Me
Written and Directed by Kenneth Lonergan
Sammy Prescott (Laura Linney, Tales of the City, The Truman Show), raised in
the small town of Scotsville and orphaned as a child, is now a single mother
devoted to her 8-year-old son Rudy (Rory Culkin, The Good Son, Getting Even
With Dad). She has resolutely remained in her home town, unfazed by its social
limitations, working in the local bank and attending Sunday church services.
Though they have lived very different lives, she has remained close to her brother
Terry (Mark Ruffalo, Committed, Ride with the Devil), a drifter who wanders
from state to state working odd jobs, getting into bar fights, spending nights
in jail and getting into trouble with women. He is charming but irresponsible
and self-destructive. Terry arrives back in Scotsville with the intention of
borrowing money to help out a girlfriend, but prolongs his visit as connections
are re-forged and a new relationship is developed with his nephew.
Whether truly blind to Terry's prior troubles and run-ins with the law, or simply
too long in denial over them, Sammy nevertheless puts faith in her brother,
though his choice of activities with her young son (such as taking him to a
pool hall late at night) are often questionable. Temporarily freed from the
restraints of single parenthood, Sammy feels reinvigorated and begins to break
free of old routines. While considering a marriage proposal from an established
friend, she tangles unexpectedly with her new boss at the bank, the nit-picking,
over-anxious Brian (Matthew Broderick, Inspector Gadget, The Cable Guy).
The balance of responsibility and freedom is, however, a difficult one. In a string of increasingly traumatic incidents, Terry disappoints Rudy time after time, until Sammy finds herself torn between the desire to help her errant brother, and the need to protect her son from yet another inadequate "father". Everything reaches boiling point when Terry takes the decision to introduce Rudy to Rudy Snr., an encounter that illuminates Sammy fear of making bad choices. Though Sammy has had a chance to re-evaluate herself, she and her brother must still confront hard choices about their future as individuals and as a family.
One of the most surprising elements in You Can Count On Me must be the compelling
role played by the small town setting and the cinematography which conveys its
beauties and constraints equally effectively. Without this, the close-knit drama
of words and attitudes might risk disclosing its inevitable stage origins. Kenneth
Lonergan's track record as a playwright is well established. As a film director,
he's a novice, albeit one who has got off to a dazzling start.
The screenplay for the movie grew out of a one-act play Lonergan wrote for a
reading at Naked Angels, the Manhattan theatre company of which he is a member.
"We have these evenings of short pieces, each with a different theme, and
on this particular evening the theme was faith," he recalls. "I had
this idea of a brother and sister, and the brother is a screw-up but the sister
still believes in him. She is always pulling for him, but he is very difficult.
I thought that this kind of relationship could be interesting to write about.
So, I wrote this short play, and then I got another idea. What if the sister
had a little son and the brother developed a relationship with the boy? And
then, if the situation became problematic, it might be an interesting premise
on which to build a script."
Finding producers and cast proved surprisingly straightforward, and the film
seems to have come together on a wave of enthusiasm for Lonergan's stage work.
One of the Executive Producers is Martin Scorsese, happy to voice his commitment:
"I love his writing. When we heard he was directing his own screenplay,
we were very excited for Kenny and wanted to get involved and support him."
Scorsese is currently collaborating on a script and a new project with Lonergan.
Stars Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo were equally eager, though the former hadn't
actually worked with Lonergan before: "Over the years, Kenny and I traded
dozens of phone calls about potential readings, so we knew each other and were
familiar with each other's work. I have always respected his talent. I was very
happy when this film went into production so we could finally work together."
Ruffalo, by contrast, already had a sizeable working history with the director,
including a stage role in the off-Broadway hit This is Our Youth. " We
did three or four theatre projects together. I directed some of his theatre
pieces too. I really know his characters and his work. In a sense, I like to
think of myself as Kenny's alter ego or as the characters he plays himself in
his pieces. We both work the same way. We jive pretty well together."
Lonergan's relationship with Matthew Broderick goes back even further, as they
have been best friends since they were 15, and Broderick was acting in Lonergan's
high school plays. This might explain the actor's determination to take the
smallish role of Brian, the infuriating new bank manager, despite a clash between
filming and stage commitments. Starring in the Broadway play Night Must Fall,
Broderick had to shoot his scenes on his days off. He would leave for upstate
New York immediately after the Sunday matinee, film all day Monday and half
of Tuesday, then head back to the city for the Tuesday evening performance.
Despite his gruelling schedule, Broderick enjoyed working on a small, indie
film again. "Independents have more of a team spirit to them."
The team spirit was probably strengthened by the conditions of shooting, with
all the locations in and around the town of Phoenicia in the Catskill Mountains,
about a two and a half-hour drive from Manhattan. The city was plagued by a
heatwave, so cast and crew described the experience of leaving it behind for
a refreshing rural setting as "like making a movie at summer camp."
While admitting that the remote location was at first daunting, producer John
Hart found a virtue in the limitations this imposed: "Ultimately it was
responsible for bringing the cast and crew so close together. In the mountains
where we shot, cell phones are inoperable. As a result, communication between
the production office and the set was limited. We had to use a runner, something
that probably hasn't been done for years in this business. In addition, most
of the hotel accommodations had no telephones. Due to the low budget, we did
not have the money to install telephone service. Essentially, the cast and crew
were cut off from the outside world."
According to Mark Ruffalo, "This was the best time I ever had as an actor."
Award-winning writer Kenneth
Lonergan makes his feature film directorial debut with You Can Count On Me,
a film he also wrote, based on a story that began life as a one-act play. Primarily
a playwright, Lonergan has also written screenplays for Analyze This, The Adventures
of Rocky and Bullwinkle and the forthcoming The Lost Army.
Lonergan's off-Broadway hit play This is Our Youth was nominated for a Drama
Desk Award for Best Play. Other plays have been performed at Naked Angels (of
which he is a member). H.B. Playwright's Foundation, Atlantic Theatre Company,
Manhattan Punchline, The Royal Court Theatre and the Circle Repertory Company.
Most recent stage successes have included Waverly Gallery (based on his grandmother's
Greenwich Village gallery) and Lobby Hero.
You Can Count On Me has enjoyed remarkable critical success for a directorial
debut, winning Best Picture and Best Screenplay at the Sundance Film festival
2000, Best Actor at the Montreal Film Festival, Best Actress and Best Screenplay
from the New York Film Critics Circle, Best Screenplay and New Generation awards
from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and taking the Sutherland Trophy
for the most original and imaginative first feature at the London Film Festival
2000.
"Incisively edited by Anne McCabe, 'You Can Count on Me' makes the most
of being shot largely on location in upstate New York. Stephen Kazmierski's
photography captures both the visual appeal, and the folksy claustrophobia,
of the region; you can see why Sammy would want to stay, and why Terry would
have got out at the first opportunity."
Philip Kemp, Sight and Sound
"These siblings are fierce and funny, wringing every nuance of love, affection,
resentment, exasperation, humour, anger and acceptance out of their dynamic.
Lonergan himself appears as Sammy's minister, and although he has 'I'm the writer-director
taking a bow' stamped all over him, he's given himself such a juicy dialogue
with the scornful Terry that you allow him the moment."
Angie Errigo, EMPIRE
"The first twenty minutes or so are heavy going, but as the characters
start coming into focus, Lonergan's genuine virtues - his elegant life-like
dialogue and his considerable skill with actors - become clearer too. Little
by little, he wins the audience over, and that's the prize every movie maker
aims for."
Terrence Rafferty, GQ
Compiled by Tyneside Cinema
10 Pilgrim Street Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 6QG
With the assistance of Northern Arts.
©
Keswick Film Club 2002
Keswick Film Club is a voluntarily-run, not-for-profit organisation.
Registered Charity Number 1083395