American cultural imperialism shows itself in various forms, but none so obvious as in the case of Dear Diary a.k.a. Caro diario, 1993 film written and directed by Italian film maker Nani Morretti. That film had won prestigious Director's Prize at Cannes Film Festival, and some years ago Croatian distributors have hoped that it could make some money in cinema theatres. Unfortunately, it turned out that they have overestimated Croatian audience's familiarity with Cannes and its willingness to watch anything that hadn't been spawned from Hollywood. In my home town Caro diario had to be pulled out of theatres because not a single ticket had been sold.
Those who later watched Dear Diary on video experienced something rarely seen in Hollywood films. Nani Moretti, these days best known as one of the leading critics of Berlusconi's government, used to enjoy reputation of Italian Woody Allen - self-thought intellectual who uses medium of films to make interesting observations about himself and his most immediate surroundings. Dear Diary is a collection of such observations, film's equivalent of diary and just like diary it is made of entries that don't have to share common theme. In this case those entries are three segments. First of them takes place in Rome in the middle of "ferragosto", Italian holiday season. Moretti, who in this plays himself, uses the opportunity to drive his Vespa through the empty streets of Rome and make interesting observations about the city, its architecture, films and even have a bizarre encounter with Jennifer Beals (playing herself). Second segments deals with Moretti's attempts to find some peace in order to write another film. He travels to one of rhe islands near Sicily, accompanied by his friend, Professor Gerardo (played by Renato Carpentieri). When peace turns out to be an illusion, two of them soon afterwards begin mini-odyssey through the archipelago. Third segment, based on Moretti's real life struggle with mysterious skin rash, chronicles author's frustrating experiences with various doctors and their apparent inability to establish proper diagnosis.
Just like Woody Allen, Moretti has one big disadvantage compared to conventional film makers - his films can be truly appreciated only by those viewers who are familiar to some subjects usually not very interesting to general audience. In Allen's case those subjects are Freud's psychology and philosophy, while Moretti in this film talks a lot about contemporary Italian history, art, literature and films. Those that do know something about those subject are probably be entertained by Moretti's observations. His directorial style, on the other hand, leaves something to be desired. The structure of the film on hand allows spontaneity, but on the other hand the quality of the segments is uneven. First is the most informative, although it is also the most boring (endless shots of Moretti driving through streets of Rome become tiresome after time). Second segment is the funniest, while the third with its serious and macabre conclusion looks like it belonged to another film. However, although those who demand hilarious comedy might be slightly disappointed, Dear Diary should be recommended to those who yearn for something different and intelligent on the screen.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on May 19th 2003)
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