The art of screenwriting has never been like writing a Novel. Screenwriting is a story told with pictures and subtext, as the saying goes, “show don’t tell”. The new movie “Diane” portrays the art of showing as well as any movie that I have seen in a long time. The main character Diane, played very well by Mary Kay Place spends the entire film driving through the very lower class streets and horrible run down houses of her lower middle class life. She visits friends. a cousin who is dying of cancer, her son who is a drug addict disaster and still manages to find time to help feed the homeless. We have all seen houses in Diane’s neighborhood in our own life, run down, barely standing, the roads and highways always depressing and in disrepair. A harsh reality in this country for way to many millions of us, is the cost of everything has far exceeded the income most Americans make for decades.
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This movie is not for anyone who is looking for a lift, it is depressing and very real showing a stark reality about the worst part of a lonely existence that many of us face somewhere in life as we get older and relatives and friends slowly leave us. Nothing about this was easy to watch, despite the occasional attempts at humor, including Diane’s son who finds God with a religious sect after he reaches rock bottom with drug abuse.
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The Rotten Tomatoes review for this movie is a very high 93% and I agree with this rating, despite the depressing story, mainly because of the acting of Mary Kay Place. Place is normally in lighter comedy movies and this is the first serious drama I have seen her in for a long time. She should receive an Academy Award nomination for Diane, despite the early 2019 release. I highly recommend Diane for its powerful portrayal of real life.
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