{"id":1211,"date":"2018-08-03T21:57:41","date_gmt":"2018-08-03T21:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/?p=1211"},"modified":"2018-08-24T22:10:36","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T22:10:36","slug":"mary-kay-place-kent-jones-on-the-quiet-power-of-diane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ramolawpc.com\/new\/mary-kay-place-kent-jones-on-the-quiet-power-of-diane\/","title":{"rendered":"Mary Kay Place, Kent Jones on the Quiet Power of \u2018Diane\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"VarietyLogo1\"<\/a>When he was still a teenager, Kent Jones had the idea to make a movie about a 70-year old woman living a pretty unremarkable life. It\u2019s the kind existence devoted to faith and family, and a kind of relentless do-gooding that helps keep the demons at bay.<\/p>\n

Several decades and a stint as the director of the New York Film Festival later, and Jones is making his narrative feature film debut with \u201cDiane.\u201d It\u2019s a drama about an altruistic septagenarian (Mary Kay Place), who is coming to terms with the deaths of several family members and dealing with a son (Jack Lacy) who is in-and-out of rehab. The film is a powerful meditation on guilt and loneliness, and a picture of a kind of factory town life that is frequently ignored by Hollywood films.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s semi-autobiographical,\u201d said Jones. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about the atmosphere of a small town living. It\u2019s about the configurations it takes. How people are always lending each other casserole dishes or cooking for each other when they get sick. It\u2019s about capturing the way people speak and what they say.\u201d<\/p>\n

After receiving rave reviews and picking up several top prizes at the Tribeca Film Festival including best narrative feature, \u201cDiane\u201d will screen this weekend at the Locarno Film Festival. IFC has purchased distribution rights for the film and will release it theatrically in early 2019.<\/p>\n

The idea for the movie may have dated back to Jones\u2019 days as a pre-adolescent in Pittsfield, Mass., but they didn\u2019t start to crystallize until he saw Place\u2019s performance as the mother of a boy with cancer in 1997\u2019s \u201cThe Rainmaker.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just knew she was the one,\u201d said Jones. \u201cShe had a soulful quality.\u201d<\/p>\n

As luck would have it, five years ago, Jones and Place found themselves on the jury of the Berkshires Film Festival. Jones used the opportunity to tell Place he wanted to write a film for her, but the actress says she didn\u2019t really think much of the offer.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople say that all the time that they\u2019re going to write a script for you,\u201d said Place. \u201cMost of the time you never get one or if you get one it\u2019s not quite professional or not that good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not so with \u201cDiane.\u201d Place responded to the central character and the setting, which reminded her of time spent with family in rural Texas. The story resonated in her bones, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife is a struggle,\u201d said Place. \u201cWe\u2019re living, we\u2019re dying, we\u2019re changing. Diane has no inner life at the beginning of the movie and begins to develop one as it proceeds. She\u2019s a person who\u2019s busy doing all the time and doesn\u2019t know how to just be. That\u2019s kind of like our culture, where we\u2019re all so crazy that we don\u2019t have time for reflection.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDiane\u201d was shot on a shoestring budget in upstate New York over a brisk 20 days. Jones had to juggle directing and editing the film with his demanding job running the New York Film Festival. Place, who has directed for television, said she was amazed that he didn\u2019t seem to show the strain, noting that Jones kept the set running \u201clike a zen garden.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI keep telling him he needs to take a vacation,\u201d said Place. \u201cHe\u2019s always so busy, busy, busy. He\u2019s on the phone or he\u2019s running to a meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n

It took years to get the funding for \u201cDiane\u201d and even Place and Jones acknowledge they weren\u2019t always certain the money would arrive for a film that doesn\u2019t fit neatly into a genre bubble. Plus, Place, although respected for her work in \u201cThe Big Chill\u201d and \u201cI\u2019ll See You in My Dreams,\u201d isn\u2019t a box office powerhouse.<\/p>\n

That kind of uncertainty isn\u2019t unique to a small drama like \u201cDiane.\u201d The industry has changed dramatically in recent years. The kind of films that New York Film Festival champions or that helped Place make a name for herself are no longer being released by major studios. They\u2019re being cobbled together by indie players and are lucky to score a Netflix release. All this change seems to be threatening the cultural primacy of cinema.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s very romantic to be a director any more,\u201d said Jones. \u201cPeople don\u2019t want to make films the way they used to. The business model sort of disappeared. I think people are sort of throwing stuff up against the wall to see if it sticks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Place agrees, noting that the convenience of streaming services is imperiling the theatrical experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m worried about not being able to go into a dark theater and experience something with a bunch of people,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s an energy that happens in those places.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Jones isn\u2019t ready to write the obituary for the art form that he loves. He notes that cinema has often been under threat.<\/p>\n

\u201cArt is always going to be in danger,\u201d said Jones. \u201cIt can always be co-opted or marginalized. I don\u2019t see it disappearing, but the people who love it have to take care of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

View this article at Variety<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When he was still a teenager, Kent Jones had the idea to make a movie about a 70-year old woman living a pretty unremarkable life. It\u2019s the kind existence devoted to faith and family, and a kind of relentless do-gooding that helps keep the demons at bay. Several decades and a stint as the director
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