California Dreamin' (film)
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| California Dreamin' (Nesfârşit) |
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| Directed by | Cristian Nemescu |
| Produced by | Cristian Nemescu |
| Written by | Tudor Voican Cristian Nemescu |
| Starring | Armand Assante Jamie Elman Răzvan Vasilescu Maria Dinulescu Alexandru Mărgineanu Laura Voicu |
| Distributed by | Media PRO Studios |
| Release date(s) |  17 May 2007 (Cannes) 1 June 2007 |
| Country | Romania |
| Language | Romanian |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
California Dreamin'[1] (Romanian: California Dreamin' (Nesfârşit)) is a 2007 Romanian film by Cristian Nemescu. It won the Prix un certain regard at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. It also picked up the Iris Award for Best Film, the Audience Award and the Canvas Award at the Brussels European Film Festival 2007. The film is also sometimes mistitled Endless in English[2], Nesfârşit being Romanian for "unfinished". The director died before the end of the montage, so in the released film his working materials are cut to 155 minutes.
[edit] Plot
I'm in Romania, I guess
—Captain Jones
The plot is based on a true story: in 1999, during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, a train containing American radar equipment, guarded by a small troop of American and Polish sodiers, required in Kosovo goes through Romania and is stopped for several days in a small village in the Bărăgan Plain (in the movie, the village of Căpâlniţa) because some customs papers are missing, even if the train has been authorised to pass through Romania by the Prime Minister.
The chief of the train station, Doiaru, is corrupt and routinely steals goods from the trains which go through his station. He also tries to bankrupt the local factory in order to buy it at a lower price. He forces the train to move onto a secondary track until the paperwork is brought. The Americans try in vain to talk the Romanian government into bringing the paperwork, but the responsibility is passed from one ministry to the other and as such, the departure is delayed.
Periodic flashbacks take the audience back to Doiaru's childhood, when his parents, who were factory owners, awaited the coming of the Americans at the end of World War 2. As his father was considered a German supporter, Doiaru's family dreaded the arrival of the Russians. However, the Russians did come first and they took away Doiaru's parents and he never saw them again. After that, the first time the Americans came to the village was in 1999 on this train.
The mayor of the village tries to make the Americans' stay enjoyable and invites the American soldiers to the 100th anniversary of the founding of the village, even though such a feast was celebrated only a few months before. Doiaru's daughter, Monica, develops a crush on an American soldier, but as she knows no English, she uses the help of a local geek, who is in love with her.
The mayor and the rest of the villagers are incited into revolting against Doiaru and start a riot, during the course of which the train leaves and Doiaru dies.
An ending note says that the radar was installed two hours after the ceasefire with Yugoslavia was signed, and the final scene shows Monica and the geek meeting in Bucharest in 2004.
[edit] Notes
- ^ According to the official website of the Cannes Film Festival, the title of the film is "California Dreamin'". However, other sources write it as "California Dreaming".
- ^ California Dreamin' (Endless) at AllMovie
[edit] External links
- The official film website
- California Dreamin' (film) at the Internet Movie Database
- California Dreamin' at 2007 Cannes Film Festival
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