Diane

The wonderful thing about this film is that it did not feel over-acted. Not for one second.

Small town New England, where the skies are grey, trees cast skeleton shadows, and folks drive endlessly to nowhere. A group of baby booming women gather for spirited, neighbourly warmth, as the ravages of time loom ominously on their well lived lives. Their men, the ones that are left, shuffle in the background.

Diane has things to do, it says so in long hand on her daily reminder note. But her mundane errands belie a couple of hardships: dealing with an adult son with a history of addiction, and a dying cousin hanging on to a lifelong grudge. As Diane, Mary Kay Place strikes a nuanced balance of vulnerable strength, a woman tough enough to bully her offspring into sobriety, good-hearted enough to bring true friendships to many, and broken enough to dance drunk solo in front of a jukebox.

Filled with excellent turns from a bunch of Golden Girls - actors who cut their chops back on the sets of "Love American Style" and "Mannix" - this film brings enough community spirit to perfectly complement Place's solo tour de force. Friends start to drop. Diane continues her lonely drives. The clouds never break. Nothing much changes, and it's all in Place's stony face.

Not for everyone, "Diane" is a moody chunk of cinema which is oh so rewarding for those willing to stick with it..

'Diane', a character-driven study of a woman coming to grips with her past life choices, aging, loss of friends and family, and most importantly, her ongoing struggle to relate to her drug-addicted son, ws featured at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. Mary Kay Place (remember her from the TV series 'Mary Hartman Mary Hartman', or movies 'Being John Malkovich' and 'The Big Chill'?), is quite good as the title character and is in virtually every seen of the movie, which, according to director Kent Jones in a post-viewing Q&A, was filmed in 20 days and has won Best Narrative at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. Diane spends the movie always reaching out to others with a helping hand but just cannot seem to grasp the idea that she needs, via those that she helps, to focus inward at times and be at peace with herself and her choices. It is a very interesting movie with several great performances, but at times leaves the viewer scratching their head about timeline, certain images, and seemingly non-congruent scenes, but overall a very good study of a flawed human. By the way...the name Diane is derived from Diana, goddess of the hunt, childbirth, and the forest-very appropriate for the movie's character.

Unusual movie, it's like you meet a stranger (woman) and she let you know of the kind of (tough) life is is having at the moment. Quite well done, but the movie ends unexpectedly!

Diane is a very moving portrayal of a 70 year old woman who takes care of everyone, from her older parents and cousins to her 30 something son (Jake Lacy) strung out on drugs. It is interesting and all too rare to see such a giving portrayal of a human being who is far from perfect, but tries so hard to be. As the film jumps through time we see the results of her efforts but are also confronted with things she cannot change, as people in the end are always going to fall back to what their true nature is.

The movie is directed by Kent Jones, a film critic and long time supporter of character actors like Mary Kay Place, who plays Diane almost too knowingly. The movie is full of only character actors, and so becomes a study of what it means to be a person who is often forgotten and over looked in our lives. Some actors start off in small roles and grow to become movie stars, recent examples might be Amy Adams, Sam Rockwell, Taraji Henson to name a few....but so many actors become people that we look at and say: "hey I know that persons face, but what's their name again?" Diane is an example of what it's like to be a caregiver in life, and a caregiver in acting. It is a film that I wouldnt call "happy" but I would call life affirming, with a really nice ending. Movies that truly mean something and portray ordinary people well are all too rare.