- 6 years ago
- Courtesy of IFC Films Diane, the narrative debut by Kent Jones (director of the New York Film Festival) is a thoughtful, deeply affecting film, especially so for viewers who are middle-aged or older, or have recently been touched by death. (Though all but the most shallow of viewers will probably feel something.) The film, which stars Mary Kay Place in one of the most intense and substantial roles of her career, is the portrait of a woman who busies herself caring for those around her while struggling with shame, loss and no less than the meaning of life itself. In many ways she is like all of us, which is why the movie resonates. Ostensibly a simple story of an ordinary life in a New England town, Diane almost furtively tackles the Big Issues. The film starts off stylistically straightforward, with close-ups of mundane kitchen items and conventionally framed conversations, before becoming progressively more surreal, as if showing how we, like Diane, are part of a bigger picture that we can't really control, or even grasp at times. Courtesy of IFC Films We first see Diane asleep in a hospital room chair, as the room’s occupant, her cousin Donna (a sharp Deirdre O'Connell), asks if she's OK. Throughout the movie, various friends, relatives and acquaintances will inquire about Diane’s well-being, as she cares for them. A retired widow, she brings food to ailing neighbors and volunteers at a soup kitchen with her friend Bobbie (a sympathetic Andrea Martin). She a[...]
