Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

dagreene1 I stopped channel surfing to watch this movie, thinking, "Finally, a movie that will explore the real issues in Black relationships and Black families." How wrong I was! This documentary is so one-sided and the images of Black women are so stereotypical, it's extremely sad! And the mini-movie that plays between real-life interviews is so comically unrealistic, I felt like I was watching a Tyler Perry play. The main woman is more of a caricature of a woman with undiagnosed Bipolar disorder than an example of a real Black woman. (and apparently, the director has something against Asian women, too, because even they aren't safe.) The men and women who can speak proper English and give valid, unbiased points are few and far between. Most of the people interviewed are embarrassingly ignorant. Most of the men are angry and bitter, themselves. They refer to themselves as the N-word. They refer to women as the B-word. One guy even uses the B-word when talking about his own mother. Another guy actually said "The Child Support system was put in place to cause a great divide between the Black Man and the Black woman." Really? (this statement alone makes it seem as if most Black men would not take care of their kids, and are angry that they're being forced to.) The worse part is that they return to the most ignorant of the bunch and ignore the ones who actually thought before they spoke (instead of just spewing nonsensical rants for 10 minutes.) It's as if the director purposefully focused on those interviewees who were saying things (regardless of how absurd they were) that validated his point of the movie: That most Black men were decent, hardworking, faithful men, and that most Black women were nagging, unhappy, manhood-destroying creatures that pushed them away.This movie was a wasted opportunity to dive into real issues about a really important subject, from all different perspectives. Instead, all it does is further the damaging stereotypes of Black women (and, unintentionally, of Black men as well) and allow the director (a man,with a lot of hurt and baggage) to get revenge on not only his ex-wife, but the rest of Black womanhood. Unfortunately for those of us who are Black (and a couple of other races), all must feel the fury of this (Black) man scorned.

swtblkhny The documentary portion of the movie made a good effort at dealing with relationship issues; however, it still came across with an biased slant against Black women. Despite this attempt at highlighting and solving problems, since it focused on how angry Black women make good Black men tired, what we ended up with for the most part was not at all balanced in perspective.Yes, the documentary portion portrayed real people answering real questions, but at some point, the writer/creator must step in with facts, step in with objectivity, with examples of Black couples' success, and with steps towards healing, right? Well, the space and opportunity to do that was filled with a satire-like and wholly unrealistic melodrama. The main character, James, a near perfect Black man, and his trials and tribulations with a angry wife.James was successful career-wise, the home-purchaser, provider, good father, faithful in the face of temptation, and church-going man. A viewer might expect that many of the men being interviewed in the documentary portion would have similar experiences--That would have truly been an eye opener to any women who may be losing hope that James exists. However, this did not seem to be the case. For the most part, it was not clear who these men were...if they were in healthy relationships or not, if they went to church regularly, were faithful, or were "James". What is clear is that they are Black men and they are "tired." Many Black men and Black women are tired of the divisiveness and are seeking to come together in a real place where we have mutual understanding. Some of that understanding comes from recognizing that some of these issues are gender-based and affect other races while some of these issues are people issues (to generalize a point: good guys like bad girls/good girls like bad guys). I actually sensed that the writer may have been "angry". Although anger was never defined and how anger emerges was never identified, from my own education, I sense that this movie was not made in the spirit of love and healing.All in all, I think the movie could have made more of a plea for each person (male, female, Black, or of other races) to keep being good and to be honest, to trust/to be trustworthy, to self-reflect, to hold the self accountable, to hold one's friends accountable for how they treat their significant others,to talk to each other (not inflame -anger-, finger point, or blame--that makes people defensive). Despite this, I think it may elicit conversations and motivate someone to take a call-to-action to decrease the communication gap between men and women (Black or otherwise) and promote ways we can make peace and progress with one another.

vcthree "Diary" isn't a traditional, straightforward 107-minute movie, and it is more of a documentary, but it works in that the short scenes provide enough dramatic tension, yet elicit a wide array of responses from an audience. That audience would be the people who are peppered between the cinematic scenes that star Jimmy-Jean Louis and Paula Lima. They are the people that Alexander went across the country to show them exactly the same things you're looking at, and then respond to what they saw in real time. Here's the sum up: you may not like this film, because you feel it's pointing an undue finger at women for the chasm in black relationships. Whether undue or not, it is pointing a finger in the direction of women, but in asking those women to make better choices in who they mate with. It also asks men to make better choices in who they mate with. And that does not necessarily mean dating out of race, either. The point is, find anyone that brings values of peace and loving-kindness into your lives, and not those who would bring nothing but headaches and heartaches, leading you down a path to bitterness and anger that carries over and ruins potentially good relationships.

timalexander It is because the film is highly rated with real people (its intended audience) and not professional film snobs like most of the people who rate films here. It is not a movie for critics, but a message to real people - most of which do not review films here. You will need to see it for yourself. Most of the real world reviews are positive because real people like the film. But I do have bad reviews as well from people who missed the film's true intent - and that was not to be a Hollywood or a textbook climatic film - but a deep cutting message. And that I accomplished as evident by the numerous positive reviews. Thanks for pointing that out. I hope I cleared it up.