Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageDiary for My Children (1982)
Director: Martá Mészáros
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
After the war, teenage Juli and her grandparents return from exile in Russia to Budapest. But Juli's hopes of happiness in her homeland are gradually eroded by the strictures of a disciplinarian society; her guardian offers love but no freedom; a free-thinking older man who befriends Juli is incarcerated. The fact that the film is based on Mészáros' own experiences makes for a certain veracity about life in Hungary during the Stalinist era, and certainly one is struck by its sincerity, intelligence and strong performances. But the film is so coldly directed, and the portrait of period and place so resolutely joyless that it is hard to care in any real way about the grim fates of its characters.Author: GA
Cast & crew
Director: Martá Mészáros
Cast: Zsuzsa Czinkóczi, Anna Polony, Jan Nowicki, Tamás Tóth, Mari Szemes, Pál Zolnay full cast
Duration: 107 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Martin Provost discusses 'Séraphine'
Trevor Johnston talks to the director of 'Séraphine' about bringing a little known French painter back to life
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Stephen Poliakoff discusses 'Glorious 39'
Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Glorious 39’ is his first film for cinema since ‘Food of Love’ in 1997. Dave Calhoun met him
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
Steven Soderbergh on 'The Informant!' and 'The Girlfriend Experience'
We talk to Steven Soderbergh about his two forthcoming films: one featuring a porn star, the other a chubby Matt Damon
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now