Dear Diary

1993 [ITALIAN]

Action / Biography / Comedy / Drama

10
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 85% · 18 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 85% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.2/10 10 9969 10K

film criticism cult comedy actor playing himself rome, italy comeback anthology

Plot summary

Nanni Moretti recalls in his diary three slice of life stories characterized by a sharply ironic look: in the first one he wanders through a deserted Rome, in the second he visits a reclusive friend on an island, and in the last he has to grapple with an unknown illness.

Director

Nanni Moretti Photo
Nanni Moretti

Top cast

Roberto Nobile Photo
Roberto Nobile as Dermatologist
Tom Towles Photo
Tom Towles as Otis
Michael Rooker Photo
Michael Rooker as Henry
Antonio Petrocelli Photo
Antonio Petrocelli as Actor in Italian Film
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
926.4 MB
1280*776
Italian 2.0
NR
Subtitles it  
23.976 fps
1 hr 40 min
Seeds 3
1.68 GB
1780*1080
Italian 2.0
NR
Subtitles it  
23.976 fps
1 hr 40 min
Seeds 13

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by susansweb 7 / 10

A nice change of pace

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.
Reviewed by atabora 8 / 10

Relaxing comedy

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.
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