I’m going to nail my colours to the mast and say that I loved this film. This is perhaps dangerous to say of a movie in which a film critic is tortured by the lead character, who reads the former’s gushing reviews to him, while the critic writhes on a bed in agony. However, pausing only until I remember my postcode probably won’t be printed in this article, I will stick my neck out and say that for sheer diversity, originality and freshness of dialogue, this film is a masterpiece.

It took me five minutes to become a fan and as time went by I became steadily more impressed. Dear Diary (released on DVD 8 May by Arrow Films) is a series of short episodes in three chapters narrated by director Nanni Moretti, who as always plays himself, and looks a little like a young Francis Ford Coppola. In the first chapter, Nanni rides through Rome on his scooter, with sunglasses and white crash helmet, reflecting on the city and displaying his social inability to hilarious effect. At first, Nanni appears to be just an eccentric loner with a talent for offending people and alienating himself with his outrageous frankness. Short encounters with various characters on his journey are broken up by scenes of our narrator gliding through different neighbourhoods. These interludes are set to a fantastic soundtrack as the camera focuses on the diverse architectural surroundings. I found these moments a welcome break to gather breath after some deep belly laughs.

But this is more than a humorous and quirky film. Later chapters see Nanni go on an odyssey to a number of islands with a friend to seek inspiration for a film and battle an irrepressible itch in a series of encounters with doctors. Where scooter journeys, break up the first chapter, ferry rides between islands and car trips to various doctors provide the interludes in these later chapters. One overriding message throughout the film is that things are rarely as they seem. On the island odyssey for example, Nanni makes plenty of friends. Ok, some of them are the kind of people to invite their guests into the marital bed along with the rest of the family at 3AM because it is the hour of the werewolf, but Nanni turns out to be a deeper character than the ‘off centre” loner he first appears.

The themes of absurdity and things being other than they seem are frequently represented visually. This is depicted particularly memorably in one long shot where Nanni walks across a peninsular as a ferry appears to glide over the landscape behind him. The channel into the harbour is hidden from the camera in much the same way that clarity of understanding frequently evades us. It takes a moment to rationalise the scene, and in doing so, is something of its magic lost?

A freshness, humour and an eye for the unusual are extant in almost every scene. Despite the film’s more serious second half, a cheeky humour is never far from the surface. This marvellous tapestry of rambling vignettes include short meditations on everything from alienation, friendship, laughter, gaiety, family, poetry, film, philosophy, literature, madness and death. It is thoroughly recommended that you see Dear Diary as soon as possible.

Words > Luke Roberts