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Dear Diary

Play trailer Poster for Dear Diary Released Sep 30, 1994 1h 40m Biography Comedy Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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67% Tomatometer 18 Reviews 85% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
Filmmaker Nanni Moretti (Nanni Moretti) goes on three disparate journeys. First, he rides through Rome on a scooter, musing on cinema, and has a chance encounter with actress Jennifer Beals (Jennifer Beals). Next, he and his friend, Gerardo (Renato Carpentieri), tour a number of islands searching for a peaceful place to write a screenplay. And finally, Moretti, hampered by a nagging skin rash, goes from doctor to doctor looking for the right diagnosis, which may or may not turn out to be severe.
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Dear Diary

Critics Reviews

View All (18) Critics Reviews
Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader What ties all this material together is the force and humor of Moretti's eclectic personality. Rated: 3/4 Jun 6, 2022 Full Review Diego Semerene Slant Magazine In the film, the matter of cinema is the process of creativity, arduous and unrealized, as it ebbs and flows. Rated: 3.5/4 May 12, 2020 Full Review Richard Brody The New Yorker This light-toned but thematically substantial autofiction is organized like a sequence of diary entries brought to life with Moretti's wryly confessional voice-overs. May 12, 2020 Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy The two first segments house some charming interludes amidst the meandering framework but the final segment largely falls flat despite being the most weighty section. Rated: 2.5/4 Sep 12, 2020 Full Review Jeffrey M. Anderson Combustible Celluloid Generally strikes a cross between deadpan and absurd; most of it is stuff that would likely never happen, but Moretti captures it all with straight-faced seriousness. Rated: 3.5/4 Sep 12, 2020 Full Review David Bax Battleship Pretension Caro diario is as much a guided tour of Italy as it is of a man's minor midlife crisis. May 31, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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William L A solid enough comedy about characters exploring relatively serious aspects of life, such as the changing nature of the world around them and the pursuit of personal expression, and finding in these pursuits a humor that runs through it despite their best intentions. I wouldn't call it the most profound or original film of its kind, as the jokes are pretty straightforward and grounded - a Joyce scholar that gradually becomes obsessed with soap operas, ultimately getting his friend to ask American tourists that have seen newer episodes what happens, claiming that he is ashamed but shouting out his questions from the top of a mountain, for one - but that doesn't mean they aren't funny or well-integrated in the story. The exception is the third act, which takes a more serious tone (counting on some form of connection to Moretti's character that isn't really established very clearly) that doesn't operate as cleanly, and decides to use its time as a criticism of the inability of several doctors to correctly diagnose his cancer; weird choice. Still, Caro Diario is briskly paced, often carries a solid sense of deadpan, and gives a pleasant look at Italy from the perspective of a lifelong resident, so you can't call it a waste of time. (3/5) Rated 3 out of 5 stars 07/16/21 Full Review Audience Member After half and hour, one feels that the movie would be more pleasant if you felt a partner in the philosophy of Moretti (however, he does not explain enough to understand it, and makes more difficult talking about geographical and cultural localisms; probably, it is a movie for already initiated), or if the sense of humour was not so subtle and ironic, in a way it becomes not funny at all. Sometimes it looks exhibicionism pre-YouTube. Probably, it looks more narcisistic because you don't fell Moretti is half as sharp as he believes he is. You can watch it (sometimes, the music and the silence are just peaceful), but not enjoy enough to continue. If I continue watching, there is risk to give just 2 stars. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member This film never fails to make me smile. It moves between being sweet and hilarious. The locations are so evocative, and the juxtaposing cultural references make me laugh out loud: "Flashdance" and The Bold and the Beautiful. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review S R 1001 movies to see before you die. Another lost flixster rating. I remember this being tedious and artsy. It was on Tubi. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 07/22/23 Full Review Audience Member The uncertainty of any definition for "Caro Diario" is what makes it so special. A documentary? Film? An autobiography? A narcissistic record? Maybe a little bit of everything, but at the same time denying it all. Speaking about "Caro diario" only loses for the pleasure of watching the film performed by the Italian Nanni Moretti in 1993. Morreti is already referenced a few years ago as a representative figure of the new phase of Italian cinema. I confess that I had only previously watched a Morreti film, being presented to the director through his Italian classes, and in which we watched "Habemus Papam" in 2011. "Caro Diário" is a unique work that is done through three episodes with an autobiographical character and in dialogue with the documentary. Moretti could run the risk of doing something dangerously narcissistic, but by having a look, writing and personality so interesting, "Caro" turns into a jocular free movie to mock its own author, from His homeland, his friends, the public ... The mosaic of the world that circulates Moretti is so true that in several moments the reciprocity and familiarity of situations not only cross the protagonist of this story, but also the one that watches. As, for example, we do not identify with the inability of physicians to listen to their patients, but, in contrast, the doctors' ability to speak and recite medicines that do not help our illnesses, especially in Responsibility for healing. References are not always pleasant, as they generally tend to reduce the merit of people, in the case of Moretti, is sincere how much Woddy Allen inspired the director or is only personal connections of the public, since in various moments of the film, we have Memory and familiarity of typical approaches to Allen's autobiographical films, such as his direct narrative, his insertion as a man and character, his sarcastic comments, the division of chapters using nominative posters, the ability to laugh at himself, and endings that always follow The opposite of expected or desired. The use of a soundtrack that at different times is something that arises externally, and that ends up influencing or creating moments of the music itself, a dialogue between character and melody, work excellently and much say of the relation and influence of Latin rhythms or Of old songs in Moretti's lineup. One of the most beautiful moments of the film is Moretti's homage to Italian filmmaker Paolo Pasolini, a motorcycle (scooter) to the place where the director was murdered to the sound of Korn's concert Keith Jarrett. The wasp: vehicle for only one person. The island: a metaphor for the individual, solitude. The doctor: professional who takes care of the body of each individual; Every very particular body of each person. The titles of each part in which the Daily Diaries divide are, in some way, a notion of the individual, of the particular, as a diary also does. Here, however, it is not an intimate narrative: Moretti may be egocentric, but this does not make him self-absorbed. His idiosyncratic, peculiar way is, in fact, a way that could be anyone's; We notice it in Moretti simply because he exposes himself. Both the photography and the lighting are punctual, not going beyond what is necessary so little innovation, in the specific lighting is notorious the use of natural light, which greatly collaborates in the creation of a documentary and biographical character very close to the street documentaries or programs The first chapter, which uses an interesting camera work, both for the movement and the break of open and closed plans, this first part, refers very much to the television programs, which usually Present the neighborhoods of a large city through a personality. "Caro diario" is mainly a conversation between the director and the audience, which creates an opportunity for intimacies that we can rarely experience, either through documentaries or the various film genres. A film of sensitivity even when dead seams, even when it is set inside out. A diary that we help to write and that certainly is a pleasure to accompany. Congratulations Moretti! Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Audience Member Clearly, it's not a movie for everyone! However, I still recommend it! Caro Diario screams Rome from the first second, when it starts with the famous unknown voice of this city - the cicadas. It makes you dream about riding a Vespa on the less famous streets of Rome. Or it's remembering you the question you had always asked yourself: Finally, the last part of the movie deals in a funny way with the enigmas of the medical system. Caro Diario is a perfect movie about imperfections! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/19/23 Full Review Read all reviews
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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis Filmmaker Nanni Moretti (Nanni Moretti) goes on three disparate journeys. First, he rides through Rome on a scooter, musing on cinema, and has a chance encounter with actress Jennifer Beals (Jennifer Beals). Next, he and his friend, Gerardo (Renato Carpentieri), tour a number of islands searching for a peaceful place to write a screenplay. And finally, Moretti, hampered by a nagging skin rash, goes from doctor to doctor looking for the right diagnosis, which may or may not turn out to be severe.
Director
Nanni Moretti
Producer
Nella Banfi, Angelo Barbagallo, Nanni Moretti
Screenwriter
Nanni Moretti
Distributor
Fine Line Features
Production Co
RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana, La Sept Cinema, Banfilm, Le Studio Canal +, Sacher Film
Genre
Biography, Comedy, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Sep 30, 1994, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 16, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA)
$445.2K
Runtime
1h 40m
Sound Mix
Dolby, Stereo
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