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| Categories | General Carson, Lm Kit Dietz, Eileen Mcbride, Jim ( D ) DVD DVDs Playable Outside the US 1960 - 1969 English Standard Edition Grade Level (feature_five_browse-bin) Audio Type (feature_six_browse-bin) |
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Description |
| Inducted into the prestigious United States National Film Registry in 1991, David Holzman's Diary is a hilarious and well-aimed satire of the cinéma vérité filmmakers of the 1960s. So naturalistic it fooled many an expert, Diary pretends to be the actual, day-to-day life of young filmmaker David Holzman. Holzman plans to film himself and his acquaintances in order to present a documentary about the common man, if the common man were an annoying film-school student whose girlfriend is getting fed up with being surreptitiously photographed, whose draft board is after him, and who is constantly assailed and assaulted on the streets of New York. Completely self-deprecating and ceaselessly entertaining, this is a rare example of self-conscious filmmaking that never takes itself seriously, but never condescends in its humor. --James DiGiovanna |
Customer Reviews |
 Only interesting from standpoint of background shots 2008-11-04 |
| By Serena Walker (NC) |
| I lived during during the 1960s and was in NYC from time to time. So consequently the outside film shots were somewhat interesting, but the tedious boredom of "Holzman's" life (doesn't matter it is faux) is draining as a viewer. I enjoy documentaries (faux or not) and this is very shabby compared to so many other films. I could not endure it to view it more than once and the 74 original minutes was about my limit. My video did include the last part (which was somewhat interesting except you wonder if this is a mockumentary, why does he have the beginning of the movie after he was robbed?). Ah, questions, questions, questions, is that the only thing that this video does for the viewer? |
 Satire of direct cinema 2007-04-15 |
| By Phoust (Kent, England) |
In the sixties Jean-Luc Godard claimed that film was truth 24 frames a second. So David Holzman endevours to see it's true by filming himself to establish some truth about his life. `David Holzman's Diary' is essentially a subtle psuedo-documentary or mockumentary exploring what can be regarded as truth in an emerging media-made reality. It's easy to believe that what we are seeing is real but in reality is scripted and acted and directed. What director Jim McBride (who worked as a news cameraman) is doing is satirizing Godard's theory along with whole direct cinema movement which included D. A. Penebaker (Don't Look Back,1967) and the Sayles brothers (Salesman, 1968). A similar film worth checking out also is Haskell Wexler `Medium Cool' (1969) which takes a greater behind the camera look at the issue blurring line between reality and fiction.
`David Holzman's Diary' is a great film and well worth watching. The Second Run DVD come with an interview of Jim McBride as well as his short film `My Girlfriend's Wedding'(1969)
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 A note about the existing Fox Lorber transfer 2005-10-07 |
| By Paul Healy |
While the quality of the NTSC VHS tape is very good, there is one major flaw in the Fox Lorber version of this film: the transfer is missing the last five minutes of the full version.
The Fox Lorber transfer ends with David Holzman being forced to confront his ex-girlfriend Penny, after being caught by a policeman filming Penny through her window from the street. The last words on the the Fox Lorber transfer are: " ...Penny said forget it." These words are said over black.
It's as if the person in charge of the transfer got bored or impatient at this point because this is where this transfer ends. The film should go on to show Holzman having his film equipment stolen, ending with a series of photo booth shots.
This film is an important film and deserves better treatment than this. Fox Lorber please redress this problem and retrieve the existing faulty transfers. I look forward to a time when we can see a complete version of this film.
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 NAVEL-GAZING QUESTIONED! 2003-12-29 |
| By Stephen M. Amy (Portland, OR United States) |
| In this brilliantly conceived and executed film, the director accomplishes satirization of the elements of cinema verite (direct cinema), and does so in such a fashion as to supply a lot of laughs. Brought into question are the concepts of a person being filmed when said person was not aware that a film of said person was going to be shot (as if, as we are supposed to suppose, in direct cinema, that the camera is not noticed by the subject(s)). And, the concept of the unscripted material being able to convey "a message" is also fodder for the satire. Also, some shots are truly art- the long pan of elderly and down-and-outers strung along a park pench, in synchro to audio of the U.N. roll being called, and the "every different shot as it appeared in a night of TV-viewing" sequence, and a street-alcoholic being harassed by cops while audio of news of fighting (with heavy U.S. losses) in Vietnam plays. As essential to understanding the genre (because the fun it pokes relates to the elements of the genre) as is the Maysles' "Salesman". |
| What "Get Smart" is to James Bond this is to the Maysles 2003-12-15 |
| By Stephen M. Amy (Portland, OR United States) |
| brothers. I felt like the Boston Strangler was operating the camera as the "verite" subjects were inside of their own homes and being shot through windows, from the street, in the final segment. It has occured to me that being a "verite" subject could easily rub a person the wrong way. And other parts of this movie- such as splices of all different images to have appeared on TV during the course of an evening (in 1967- so not only is it an amazing experience, visually, to grok this- it also is a nostalgia trip). And the continuous pan- if that's the correct tech term- of people relaxing on park benches not only satirizes "verite" but also could be real "verite" in that I felt that something about the human condition was conveyed. |