If most of the characters, including Nucuazia's sharp-tongued mother, soft-touch grandmother, wastrel brother and brusque corporate executive sister, share an uncanny family resemblance, it is because Mr. Linzy plays them all, brilliantly.

This small realistic gem, set in an upstate New York town, looks deeply and empathetically into the loving but strained relationship between Sammy (Ms. Linney), a single mother with an 8-year-old son, and Terry (Mr. Ruffalo), her wastrel brother who returns home after serving a jail sentence.

'YOU CAN COUNT ON ME' The directorial debut of the playwright and screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan is a small, perfectly observed portrait of a young single mother (Laura Linney) and her wastrel brother (Mark Ruffalo) who returns to visit her in their upstate New York hometown.

While in the country, where he lives, Ernest goes by the name of Jack (which he believes to be his real name) and pretends that he has a wastrel brother named Ernest, who lives in London and requires his frequent attention.

Laura Linney won as best actress for her role as a single mother in an upstate New York town who reunites with her wastrel brother in Kenneth Lonergan's film, "You Can Count on Me."