"You Can Count on Me" contains some of the best acting seen this year.

Acting is always the most important thing. If you don't have good acting, you have nothing. The only film maker I can think of who did without good acting was Stanley Kubrick. It's not that the acting's bad, it's just not the focus. I'm interested in human interaction.

What fascinated you about the brother-sister bond?

I actually don't have a relationship with any of my sisters like the one in the film, but I think there's something about people who are a bit more stable trying to look after their loved ones who are less stable that's really interesting to me. A lot of people have relationships with people who are self-destructive. It's a very dramatic situation, and I imagine that is the case with a lot of siblings.

Your film is deliberately unhip. Did you feel it stood apart from most American independent films?

The films that I like are much older. The films I grew up watching were 30s, 40s, and 50s films, and the 70s films which were current when I was a kid. I don't care for the more recent styles as much. Plus, I didn't feel that with so little experience I had any business dabbling in pyrotechnics. I know a little about trying to build a narrative, and characterisation and humour, and working with actors. But I didn't know how to shoot the film, so I thought I better keep it simple or I'm gonna look like a fool!

Read an interview with Laura Linney, the star of "You Can Count on Me".