Diary of a Tired Black Man (2009)

If I could give negative stars I would, cause frankly, this doesn't even deserve 1 star. I'll keep it brief. There are so many problems with this video --- too many to count.First -- it's "labeled/categorized"as a 'drama' i.e. narrative film. That is one big glaring mistake: It is not a narrative film. It is a documentary. (this video is an insult to the genre, "documentary")This is just an arrogant, self-righteous, one-sided, conceited, ignorant, self-indulgent commentary on the STEREO-TYPE of an "angry black woman" -- condescending African-American women who carry this self-inflicting, self-destructive disease known as, "Angry Black Woman Syndrome".The majority of the men in this video, including our Lord-Almighty, director/savior, Mr. Tim Alexander merely come off as being completely ignorant, selfish, chauvinistic, and simple minded. He and his posse of "men" criticize all the women around them, surrounding them in their small, unimportant lives as being the cause of all their pain and torment. Okay, can we all say, "Martyr"!!!And he edits most of the women to either look foolish or support his opinion --- wake up folks, it's called "EDITING".Give me a break! I am not a woman. I am not African-American. I am not white. I am a male. And I think this was so infantile and stupid, it ironically defeated the director's point by making all the men testimonials look completely infantile- -- the men (including director, Tim Alexander) don't even seem like they could get a G.E.D. if their life depended on it. But I love how we're so blessed to see our very own Tim Alexander give talks in coffee shops and parks like he's some expert on gender/race relationships. Who is this loser, besides just being a narcissist.Oh and for the record, I have dated several African-American women plus I have several African-American male and female friends and none of them (especially the females I've had relationships with) act or even think this way.As it was barely mentioned in the movie, maybe these issues aren't just "black women issues" but rather "Men and Women" issues as a whole. For the Tim Alexander, I know that's a bit too much to swallow, cause after all, he's actually the racist for not seeing the larger picture and realizing it's not a color/race issue, but rather just the standard gender/relationship issues that every one deals with. It'd help if maybe he dated. Then he might actually know what he's talking about instead of just watching Tyler Perry movies.It's actually a shame that film-making tools are so accessible to anyone because it can't stop fools like Tim Alexander who has to take credit for every-single job on the film -- director, cinematographer, editor, writer, original music, make-up --- I mean, come on... seriously... what are you, like 12 years old? Gotta have your name down on everything because you're so insecure with your abilities?And insecure is what you are. It shows inside-and-out. This reeks of insecurities... of you, Mr. Alexander: Narcissist.Finally, the "re-enactment scenes" are HORRIBLE. Why would you cast an African male with such a thick accent (who clearly hasn't grown up in the "American" culture) to be your lead protagonist/victim and mascot for all suffering African-American males? That's like comparing apples to oranges.The female lead/wife who plays the supposed "angry black woman" really has no motive for being angry, other than just your weak script that says she's angry. Look around -- they live in a pretty upper-middle class lifestyle. Where's the stress for her to be so angry? It's not like the husband is a dead beat, or unemployed, or having an affair, or neglecting their child... It's not even that they're a blue-collar working class family but the wife just always demands more.SORRY TIM. But the good news is, the world needs plenty of bar tenders, so why don't you start there and leave the documentaries and film-making to the people who are smart enough to make a good movie.

i thought this was an excellent movie and it has changed my life. people can argue all day long about it and do but what's great is how in loved the viewer becomes in their own thinking and sharing with others. A movie can be great without a huge budget or even sometimes without the best actors, but it can change lives as it has mine I think that says it's a great movie! For me it crosses all lines and it is a movie to make one use their head and think, get together and enlighten. An it has enlightened me.People are highly engaged on the forum with many different opinions. That shoes the power of the movie. Idf it meant little, there wouldn't be so many people discussing it's complex issues. At times I thought the main character was a little dramatic but that's what gets the point across. I felt really uncomfortable watching her anger and the movie made me look at my own anger. It's really got me thinking and changing my ways

Lately, the conversations around the demise of the black family and black relationships have mostly given a voice to black women. Even more specifically, the focus has been narrowed to a sub-population of women, financially and academically successful black women, as if the rest of the community has no voice and does not matter.Finally, Diary of a Tired Black Man explodes on to the scene to shake the dust off of the trite "good black man shortage" formula and open up the dialog to the entire community. What really caught my attention is how we finally get to hear from black men speaking with black men. No, it's not locker-room talk about sexual escapades. Rather, these men are giving first hand accounts of their struggles within relationships.The film is an entertaining and illuminating collage of street interviews and short vignettes. The vignettes, illustrative autobiographical shorts that highlight the struggles of the film maker's past relationship, bring together the myriad of thoughts, confessions, and accounts of the real people who are interviewed. I found that the theatrical interludes worked well juxtaposed with the impromptu interviews. I gave it one less star than ten because I didn't think that all the the acting was executed as well as it could have been.Diary of a Tired Black Man is an important piece that I'm sure will make an impression on anyone who views it. For the first time, I could see very clearly how: * The notorious "attitude" that many men complain about is actually very common, contrary to my previous belief. * The "attitude" often manifests as misdirected anger and verbal abuse. * The broad generalizations about women that sound unfair to my ears actually come from the hurt that men have experienced in past/ current stressful relationships and family experiences.I gave this film a 7/10 stars because I love the intent and the approach and I believe it's an important project, but the acting was lacking and the accompanying online forum contains a suspicious amount of hype-generation/ hoaxing from fictitious writers.

The documentary portion of this film was absolutely excellent. Top rate Michael Moore quality. In fact, if it was solely a documentary, there is no doubt in my mind that it would be up for industry awards in that category. It captured so many different perspectives on what goes on in modern day African-American relationships. Many African-American men were interviewed, and, if nothing else, it was really very refreshing to see so many African- American men honestly reveal their thoughts on intimate relationships. Not only were African-American men interviewed, but also African- American women, as well as, women from other races and even a token white guy (I think). There was such a variety of feelings, viewpoints and perspectives that were expressed about male/female relationships that everyone can really learn a great deal from this film. It is extremely provocative, worthy of being taught in college classrooms. The cinematography was just incredible! We are talking Spike Lee innovation and creativity! Before I knew that Tim Alexander was the filmmaker, I honestly thought this was another Spike Lee joint! (And c'mon, everyone has to admit Spike's amazing!) Like Spike, when it comes to making films, Tim Alexander certainly does know what the hell he is doing! The editing was astoundingly smooth and flawless, as the film move back and forth from the scripted portions to the unscripted portions.Speaking of script, this film was groundbreaking in that it combined a scripted portion with a documentary portion, quite an ambitious undertaking! This filmmaker deserves brownie points for innovation. In the scripted portions, the actors were incredible! It's unusual to see such good acting from relative unknowns. But these actors were good! They were very believable; lines were delivered with incredible verve, power and passion. Kudos to all of the actors! Hopefully we will see more of the characters Tonya and James on the big screen, because they were highly entertaining.But alas nothing is perfect, when it came to the scripted portion; the characters were portrayed in the extreme. I believe this was done to highlight the problem between them, but it's a bit heavy handed; and inevitably some people are going to be deeply, offended by the portrayal of the character Tonya. But real art offends! That's the whole point of art. Mr. Alexander is quite the artist.Nevertheless, all in all, it was very well done. It's definitely a must see! You can catch it on Showtime; a station that I find only subscribes to excellence. As a writer, I have very high standards and I almost only recommend Showtime and HBO programming. Once again, Showtime does not disappoint. The Diary of a Tired Black Man is an incredibly provocative film, with universal themes that everyone can relate to.