Caro Diário

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.

Yes it is cute and Woody Allenish but there is something more. It is a movie about an ordinary man, who enjoys doing quiet things by himself such as riding around Rome on his Vespa and walking by himself, he is not a hero he's anyone. The music is really good and I managed to find it all on Napster and other sources. Notice some themes such as the Soccer(football) nets (goals) and the scene where he watches the nun on tv, that same scene is in Cinema Paradiso! I like World music so the scene of the band playing for the dancers is great-who is that group...what is the song? I didn't like the interposed parts showing Henri the serial killer or the Italian movie and I thought the last story was a bit boring- notice on the scene where he is looking for Passolini's murder spot how he just doubles back on himself.

I could go on talking about this film and it comes in as one of my five best Cinema Paradiso, Unbearable Lightness of Being, Manhattan, and The Year of Living Dangerously.

Good visuals, music, and weird but fun way of story telling. Total vibes from this film. The main character is very interesting. The story in 3 parts, amd take of the actor as the story goes on, is nice. Gives a funny thing to the story. The landscape, buildings, vespa travel, islands, volcano, ships make a tonal shift from one story to other. Differemt characters and their quirks, some tolerable and some outright leads to withdrawing immediately. The same problem with wrongly diagonising. How many lives will we lose. To have heart to go through it again for showing yoir life, is a brave thing to do. Huge respect. Stay at home and turn on this film, you will enjoy it.

Caro diario (dear journal), is a little undiscovered gem of a movie, maybe a bit artsy, but never pretentious or boring. The main character is Nanni Moretti, the director, played by himself. Using a very original narrative, sometimes giving the impression you're watching a documentary only to be surprised when Nanni continues what the off-voice was saying to a guy in a convertible, it is an observation of different (and random) aspects of today's Italian society. In the first part Nanni rides around Rome on his vespa, alternating monologues commenting whatever's in sight with long cinematic scenes where the images and music ooze a mood that says all, the most memorable example of this being the visit to the beach where Passolini got murdered. In the second and most hilarious part he and a friend visit several Italian islands in search of peace and quiet. This part contains some Woody Allen-esque observations on human nature, tough comparing Moretti with Woody Allen would be underrating him, as making an island impossible to live on because it only consists of couples with a single child and illustrating it in such a witty manner seems far out of Allen's reach. The third part is Moretti's quest for a cure for his skin disease, taking him from doctor to homeopath to dermatologist and back. This seamed the lesser of the three parts, yet still very entertaining and funny tough somehow an anti-climatic ending to a great movie. And a great movie it is, certainly considering the director's favourite flic is 'Flashdance'.

Posters prefer, so it seems, the first two segments of Dear Diary. I thought that the last one, where NM is itching like crazy is absolutely brilliant and beyond brilliant. If you've been sick with god knows what, then you may well have had the same voyage as he.

No one has ever captured on film, to my knowledge, why and how doctors, famed and not famed, traditional and alternative, are so dammed frustrating when you have a problem that doesn't quit. I found myself relating totally to Moretti's utter frustration and since it ended without resolution re: his cancer, I can only assume he beat it.

Many times I or someone I love has this same tortuous struggle to find A SINGLE healer who really knows what gives. I found the cancer scenes very touching but it was the 8 months of itching and trying so many meds and accupuncture most true to our lousy medical situations. So many and none got it, until one did correctly diagnose him. I relate! And he's not Woody Allen, whose films I usually soak up, he's unique and brave and extremely intelligent. Thanks for listening.