Caro diario (1993)

"Dear Diary" is one of the delights of the Italian cinema, an adrenaline shot of pure pleasure from writer, director and star Nanni Moretti who uses his position as a film-maker to indulge himself in all the things he enjoys about Italy; his adopted city of Rome, the Italian islands, even taking a wryly humorous look at his treatment for cancer. Consequently the film is part documentary, part a lopsided fiction in which he sets up a series of scripted situations with himself as the star. It's a wholly original concept though it may remind you of some of Fellini's later films since they are all essentially love letters to Rome and to Italy. But "Dear Diary" goes further; it's also Moretti's love letter to cinema and he takes great delight in puncturing the pretensions of certain critics and the kind of low-brow films and television he abhors, ("Henry; Portrait of a Serial Killer", a film I love, gets singled out for special treatment), and who won't allow themselves to be moved when he visits the place where Pasolini was murdered. As for Moretti, himself, who wouldn't want to spend time with this charming man. A treat from start to finish.

Fmovies: Interesting look on life, funny and sad. Not a movie for the action-seekers or the shallow. Movie follows main character (autobiography) on his wanderings through Rome and the Liparian Islands. Very nice camerawork. Simple but effective.

Nanni Moretti turns the camera on himself as he explores his hang-ups and obsessions via three chapters. The first chapter has him take us - the audience - for a humorous journey on his vespa, admiring the beauty and ugliness of suburban Rome. His next journey is through the Islands, searching for solitude to write a script. An hilarious chapter that saves the film, because by the third part we have had enough of Moretti. But we still thank him for taking us through his diary.

Caro diario fmovies. Not a standard film by any means but well done. The movie is broken into three parts, each part shares no relation with each other. In the first part we follow the director on his Vespa throughout Rome as his voiceovers talk about his impressions of Rome. Great selection of music for this part and Moretti's expressions watching "Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer" are hilarious. The second part, is of a more surreal bent as Moretti and a friend tour the islands surrounding Italy. Enjoy it for the scenery as for some of tongue in cheek commentary on the people living there. The third part follows a more linear plot as we follow Moretti trying to find the cause of his ailments. Generally lighthearted throughout this part turns rather serious at the end but since it has already happened, there is no concern for the future. A good introduction to one of the better Italian directors.

Free flowing, naturally witty, at times very funny film, accompanied with some wonderful music, especially during scenes where Moretti rides his Vespa in beautiful, empty streets of Rome's suburbs.

The film is not like any other director's take on society while blending his personal stories in it. Imagine Moretti being your guide and taking you around Rome and Italian islands, introducing layers of the Italian society with razor sharp and witty observations.

Many of the characters in the film will seem familiar to people around the world. Being unable to afford an apartment in his home town, frustration with doctors and their addiction to prescribe drugs, parents becoming hostage to their child, extreme want for change and development, people offering hedonistic capitalism, frustrated narcissists living in isolation. And TV addiction! The scene where Moretti rides his scooter to the place where Passolini is murdered has almost a dreamy barren atmosphere to it and possibly is the saddest part.

And there are hilarious moments, especially the visits to the islands are a real treat! It was also great to see Jennifer Beals, Flashdance being one of my favorites too.

This is a gem, or better yet, a cult movie.

I had to purchase this film after seeing it once late at night on a cable channel many years ago. Although the director can come off as an effete intellectual, his focus is on the Italian culture as it has changed over the past 30 years. As a passive observer of Roman lifestyles, this film is better appreciated when you have some first hand experience living in Rome - since the director's point of view seems to come directly from this city. In a certain way, Caro Dario is the intellectual version or sequel to Fellini's Roma. Instead of satirizing low brow Roman lifestyles, Caro Dario spoofs the pretentious intellectuals (like his traveling comrade who finally breaks down and admits he is a soap opera addict) and the couples who have read various philosophical and historical works to their only son every night to help him go to sleep. As the parents are rattling off the list of philosophers and historians "... we have read Hegel, Wittgenstein, Herodotus, read and re-read Cicero", they hesitate for a moment not recalling one of the authors and the son chimes in "Tacitus!". It was funny just appreciating the stark contrast of the family's existence and lifestyle as compared to the principles and content of what they had been reading to their son.

I call it a relaxing comedy because it depends on vignettes for comedy and then intersperses great scenery and music in between. The comedic moments are just pointed enough to keep the film interesting, e.g., the very precise translation of "mezzo scemo" by Jennifer Beals; the island of misfit parents whose children reign; and the inside view of Roman medical care. Now all that's needed is a prequel to Roman culture. We have seen the Rome of the 1930s through the 1970s in Fellini's "Roma". Caro Dario takes us from the 1960s to the 1990s. Perhaps a good satire on the culture at the time Verdi through to World War I.