Diane Whitley Movies

In Britain, when bored street punks go on violent destructive sprees late at night through local yards and neighborhoods it is called a "Boston kickout." Combining elements of humor, gritty realism, and drama, this youthful film, set in dismal Stevenage, a hastily built post-war town where unemployment and despair runs rampant and the youth, bored and without hope for the future, engage in violent crime and drug use. Under these conditions, four teenage friends struggle to somehow make their way to manhood and a better future. Much of the story centers on Phil, a young man living with his father Ray and the grim memory of his mother's 1982 suicide in London. It was young Phil who found her hanging from a rope at the top of the stairs. Soon afterward, to escape the awful memory, Ray moved them to the suburb. That was years ago and now Phil hangs out with his best mate Ted and tries to figure out what to do with his life. Ted tires of their aimless, empty lives, rebels and leaves after a violent incident. Lonely Phil begins hanging out with Matt and Steve. Matt has recently married and doesn't seem to mind the stultifying life in Stevenage while Steve is emotionally unstable and ready to fall apart. Before the arrival of Shona, his lovely Irish cousin, Phil contemplates what he sees as his two life options, college with its hollow promise of a job, or a life of crime. Shona thinks he has talent as a photographer and encourages him as they embark upon a brief romantic fling. Just when Phil begins to dream of a better life, his bereaved father attempts to kill himself. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In a novel and intriguing approach to storytelling, director David Hare has created an engaging mystery and human drama that ostensibly focuses on an innocent dinner party but is really about something else. Jean Travers (Vanessa Redgrave) is an old-maid schoolmarm who has lived in Wetherby, a small town in northeastern Yorkshire, all of her life. She is still haunted by memories of a passionate love affair with a young man who was later murdered while on military duty in Malaysia nearly 35 years ago in the '50s. One evening, Jean invites a group of friends over for dinner; the group is comprised of two couples, one of which spends the time sniping at each other. A young man, John Morgan (Tim McInnerny) is also in the dinner party. Jean thinks he was brought along by one of the couples; the couples, in turn, believe he was invited by Jean -- in short, he is a total stranger that everyone assumes is a friend of someone there. As the evening progresses, political topics of the moment are brought up and chewed over; Margaret Thatcher, Richard Nixon, and other notables of the era are discussed, and various comments are made on the laziness of today's youth. The dinner party ends, and the next day John Morgan comes back to visit Jean. While she is in the midst of preparing tea for them both, he takes out a gun and kills himself. The shock waves from his senseless act later reverberate among the dinner-party guests, as the police investigator tries to piece together the man's background and the dinner party itself. Questions are raised about his motives, and viewers see the dinner party again, moment by moment, in an entirely new light. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide