Diane                                    4 ½ stars

I happened upon Diane purely by accident as I was intending to see something different but was foiled in getting to the theater on time.  Diane is a low key movie starring Mary Kay Place as a sixty something woman living in a rural area who selflessly looks after the well-being of those around her who are in need, whether they be sick friends, the poor needing to be fed at the soup kitchen or her drug addicted adult son whose life is a wreck.  At the same time she loathes those who could make their lives better but refuse.  While Diane appears to be a saint there is something in her past that she clearly regrets and has not gotten over how she wronged someone close to her.  This movie is something you don’t see very often in film, a serious treatment of a person from rural America as a realistic subject.  I really got the feeling that this was a real person going through some very troubling times, thanks to the very realistic and emotional performance by Mary Kay Place.  The film was aided by some outstanding performances by the supporting cast as well.  If you run across this film in your search for movies don’t pass this one up.