California Dreamin' (Nesfarsit)

Plot synopsis:
I'm in Romania, I guess
The plot is based on a true story: in 1999, during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, a train containing American radar equipment required in Kosovo, guarded by a small troop of American and Romanian soldiers, went through Romania and was stopped for four days in a small village on the Bărăgan Plain because some customs papers were missing, even though the train had been authorised to pass through Romania by its Prime Minister.
In the movie, the train is stopped several days in the village of Căpâlniţa by the chief of the train station, Doiaru, who is corrupt and routinely steals goods from the trains which go through his station. He forces the train to move onto a siding until the paperwork is produced. The Americans try in vain to get the Romanian government to sort out the paperwork, but the responsibility is passed from one ministry to the other and as a result, their 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 arrived first and they took away Doiaru's parents and he never saw them again. The first Americans to arrive in the village after the war are the very soldiers on the train in 1999.
The mayor of the village tries to make the Americans' stay enjoyable and invites them 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, Andrei, 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 Andrei meeting in Bucharest in 2004.

Tags: comedy, flashback

Review:
Cristian Nemescu's California Dreamin' (Unfinished) is furiously funny, outrageously cruel, infinitely critical of Romanians..
"California Dreamin' (Nesfarsit)" is one of the finest movies Romanian cinema has ever produced.
While the unfortunate death of young director Cristian Nemescu left the film unfinished, the movie has been put together according to Mr. Nemescu's plans.
There are many layers of discourse in this movie that develop as main lines of the narrative - on one hand, there is a sad, cynical, and auto-meditative look at the Romanian society in its purest, unaltered form; on the other hand, the movie speaks of the obsession of a generation of Romanians, that have been waiting for the Americans to liberate them ever since the Second World War; when those two lines meet, incredible things happen; and last, but not least, it shows the personal development of a few characters that are very relevant for Romanians today.Being a Romanian, I don't usually like Romanian films - many of them are irrelevant, are exorcising demons that have no relevance for us today (like "12:08 Bucharest"); but Cristian Nemescu's California Dreamin' (Unfinished) is furiously funny, outrageously cruel, infinitely critical of Romania and Romanians, and it manages that by simply showing the facts, and not making one personal interpretation.A brilliant movie done by a great movie maker.
Westerners and Americans, not very accustomed to the history and the society of the Eastern Europe might reduce them to this narrow view: gypsies, easy and shallow girls, the general poverty and corruption and a scene populated by low-lifes and scums.
The humor and general spirit of this movie reminds me a lot of Emir Kusturica's talent.Too sad the director died a year ago in a car crash, 28 year old only.Obviously, the best flicks don't come from Hollywood lately.
Yet, in watching "California Dreamin'" I cannot but accept the fact that this may not have been the director's final vision, while still going on to comment on the things I saw and felt.
We have to enjoy "California Dreamin'" for what it is and judge it accordingly.The story of Capalnita is a sad one, as it is the story of many parts of Romania, a country in desperate need to be seen and heard.
While the movie takes place on a more personal level, the allusion is inescapable, as are quite a few other things about life around here.The main plot revolves around a NATO transport sent to Kosovo by train, which is stopped in - literally - the middle of nowhere, by a station conductor who claims he wants to see the transit papers for whatever is being transported.
There is something subtle, something beyond the obvious realm of the film that quietly unfolds, a story of immense sadness, a story that reflects exactly how diseased modern society is, with an emphasis on Romanian problems that have shaped the late 20th century for all the people living there.
All in all though, the underlying message is clear and sensible: there will be no Americans (or any "others") to come and save us, we need to find the resources ourselves to deal with life as it as and as we've made it be.Armand Assante plays it straight all the way, the tough guy trying hard to keep calm in a situation which defies his notions of bureaucracy and efficiency.
The lack of response from Romanian authorities was - to my mind - completely unimaginable to a foreign army man, yet the usual resourcefulness of American imagination clears the way for a solution.
Well, it is a film which could have been good - even very good - had Nemescu had time to round it all off, but as such it is more of a long and unsatisfactory ride through the mysterious world of a tiny town at the outskirts of Bucharest.
There's a lot of stuff there you can enjoy, a lot of sad truths and a great central character in the person of Doiaru, but the final impression is weak and underplays the film's potential.
No matter what good or wrong you you'll see in the recent Romanian society, there are certain people living in this country who can make genuine art.
Many excellent Romanian film directors tend to have a keen sense for the dynamism of the short takes by "wearing" the camera like a peer of glasses.
And this is the main purpose of the 7-th art.Yes, it's a great movie, even if it's unfortunately unfinished; like an unexploded bomb in the Romanian consciousness...
Things like that MIGHT happen in the future, maybe this movie should be watched by our politicians, as I consider it as a satire.
I think this movie expresses very well the mixture of feeling the Romanians always had for Americans: "hatred" because they didn't save us in the WW2 (topic presented in the movie as a "remember", for which full understanding i recommend that previously you read a bit of WW2 history), "fascination" - from the Romanian girls, because American soldiers are considered handsome, and as being a way for escape from a possibly unhappy life, "business interest" - from officials, because they could invest money and help the local communities to develop.
All these aspects are presented wonderfully by Nemescu, telling our story as Romanians, to the entire world.
Cristian Nemescu's Cannes award wining movie, California Dreaming manages to exceptionally underline the issue of globalization, bureaucracy, the international image of the United States and it's actions, opportunism; also some of the bitter realities of Romanian administration, politics, mentality and the servility regarding foreigners that is found in this country way of thinking; everything is spinning around an old local obsession from 1944 when all of Romania was waiting for the US Forces to arrive and liberate it from the occupants; the viewer is surprised several times by different cues(lines) that are more or less subtle and what is impressive is that with only one phrase some of the characters manage to create powerful images and scenes.
The arrival of the Americans in the Capalnita Village it is seen by locals as a unique chance to live a better life and in their attempt to distinguish themselves, the villagers become capable to give rise to amazing actions never seen before in the community even though in the end all becomes so very ridiculous and ironically for both of the sides(the US Marines and the Romanians)but for different reasons: the Americans because of their unstoppable urge to leave and being stuck in the middle of nowhere and the villagers for their desire to lure and impress the new arrived guests.
Another thing to remind is the brilliant black and white scenes mixed in the movie, which present a story from The Second World War, aspects which are essential for the viewer to understand the mentality of one of the most important character named Doianu, the one who actually starts the main plot.
Even like this, movie was brilliantly directed making me remember of Antonioni's Blow-Out. Lots of people would not like it because it shows too much poverty or does not show all aspects of Balkan's life or just because is not a Hollywood movie.
..yes i'm talking about "12 Angry Men" , so "California Dreamin'" based on (i consider) a good plot with low amount of money it deserve to be watched.Fugitive brief: *Action is placed in Romania, in a small village,year 1999.
*Americans were passing through Romania to deliver NATO equipment *In a small village they were stopped by the Railway chief because they were not having any travel papers.(Alltough the railway chief was having orders to let them pass) *They remain in that village for a couple of days until the papers problem was solved (Railway chief explaining the Americans that they ain't better than the rest and need to follow Romanian law)PS: excuse my English!.
A genius of the romanian cinematography, and one of the world's best movie directors.
Cristian Nemescu's work of art brilliantly succeeds in capturing the pitoresque rural life of the Romania's villages, today, a country that is supposed to be an European one, but the mentality of the country people still remains one of the communist era.
Too bad, that such a talented director like Cristian Nemescu passed away in such a short notice, at only 27 years old, leaving only a small part of his brilliant work behind him.
(Fortunately, now we are okay again.) To get to the point, I should say that my official review of the movie is pretty detailed, and any Romanian-reading user can read it on Cinemagia or Liternet (unfortunately, I can't post the links here, since the IMDb rules forbid it; but you know what I'm speaking about).
The important thing is that "California Dreamin' (Unfinished)" is indeed one of these golden movies of Romanian's present day's generation.
It expresses an unmistakable Romanian note, in style, content and feeling, and also a definitory trait of its sadly departed author, the talented an exceptionally rigorous Cristian Nemescu (here comes the THIRD piece of trivia: we fought like mad on the Cinemagia Forum - but, thank God, we made up one year before his tragic demise).A very important piece of info: Cristi Nemescu had the habit to shoot much more than it was meant to get into the movie, and then to ruthlessly re-organize and cut short his footage, while editing.
This is why the movie remained so long and somewhat dissipated in the last quarter.The good news is that even those scenes are well done, precise and compelling, so the fault belongs only to the structural principles, not also to the pictures as such.
Putting together all the good and bad points, "California Dreamin' (Unfinished)" remains one of the best Romanian movies of all times - and, more than that: as an East European movie in the widest sense.
In the case of Cristian Nemescu's film 'California Dreamin'', there's a sadder story: the director died in a car crash while the film was in edit.
What he left behind was a story (about American soldiers marooned in a Romanian backwater) that is arguably overlong and unfinished (indeed, the film even has a subtitle to this effect), with some unlikely cuts and juxtapositions (that may or may not have been intended).
And yet, I did wonder why a Romanian director should have wanted to make a film that shows such a picture of his country.
But then I was reminded of another film about a local community (this time in Scotland) visited by an American, Bill Forsyth's 'Local Hero'; and there are aspects of both films that are similar, not least in the ambiguous relationship of the movie to the people it depicts (superficially, in both cases, our initial sympathies are with the outsiders).
Interesting and typical subject for the Romanian society (all the villagers becoming really excited, seeing that they are "visited" by Americans), regarding profound problems of eastern-European mentality but at the same time funny and commercial, "California Dreamin'" has everything what a movie needs to be a great success for the public but also a valuable movie that will be for long time actual.
And this is also why the movie was so well received by both film critics and viewers.RIP Cristian Nemescu..
Not that these elements can't be combined in one movie, but it needs to fit together and feel like one story, (or be deliberately presented as separate stories.) Instead, everything is just mashed together in weird way where it felt like each scene had a different director in charge.
Perhaps half of the scenes in the movie helped build up to the ending, but the other half didn't seem to fit with that story line at all.There was some good acting, though most of it was not top caliber.At the film festival where I saw it, they billed it as a comedy.
Nemescu manages to poke gentle fun at all sides; no-one finally emerges intact with both the Americans and the Romanians coming off equally badly and he does a wonderful job in evoking the boredom of village life.
To define this movie I would focus on realism, characters that do represent stereotypes, black Romanian humor, teenage Balkan sexuality and between the lines harsh criticism of world politics.
One should look beyond the situational humor and invest some time to read between the lines of one of the best movies produced by the Eastern European cinema in the past two decades.
That is precisely what this Romanian movie does: look how many bizarre and corrupted characters we have in our country, our girls are easy for US dollars, everything is dirty and cheap.
And when it comes to plot and other dramatic qualities of this movie, it is nothing but confused - the motivation for the provincial railway station manager to stop and hold the train for days is totally vague, and when possible causes for his behavior appear, we still don't know for certain which one is the real one: does he want a bribe?
If you lived here you would understand why people tend to criticize Americans and their politics.As long as Romanian people deal with Americans and are involved in their political movements, they are also allowed to state their opinion in every available way.
Its a nice movie regarding the plot, but taking in consideration that the movie had a "small allowance's budget " per totally it was a relaxing movie on a rainy summer day, when ...have nothing else to do.The cast was mediocre, on the both sides, the scenery was ambiguous at the beginning, but was deflated, until the final scene, with a lot's of details who are hard to follow .As always, i admire the will of the great US "masters" actors, who try to encourage the movie production company in the Eastern Europe, but,,,, better don't do this type of movies, 'cause it's bad for your image.....Personal message for Mr Assante:You can do better movies than this one ......
This was a debut big screen film but unfortunately also an and of career film, as director Cristian Nemescu died in a car accident last year.The story based on real events happens in the Wild East landscape of 1998 Romania, the period of transition, a time when everything can happen even in places where usually nothing happens.
The result is that the American soldiers and their commanding officer captain Jones which had over-passed until then at modern vehicles speed all the horse-driven carriages of the Romanian peasants find themselves suddenly stuck as a situation that resembles some spaceship having landed on an unknown planet.We know from flashback scenes run in parallel with the main action that Doiaru is the son in a family of the enemies of the former Communist rule, the type of guys who had been waiting for decades as most of the Romanian people for the West and especially from the Americans to come to their rescue.
In one of the key scenes in the movie Doiaru tells Jones something like: 'We have been waiting for you since War War II.
Maybe to save the Romanian from themselves seems to say the authors of the movie who are extremely critical about the state of the Romanian society represented by the village in the middle of nowhere.
The best was for me Razvan Vasilescu, a genial actor who already made a few roles that describe best the character of the villains of the Romanian transition.Cristian Nemescu could not finish the film, and the title bears a sign - 'nesfarsit' means literally 'not terminated' and 'endless' speaking figuratively.
Scenes in movies like "No Country For Old Men" are able to utilize this properly and to great effect.
I just have to say I was disappointed by this movie, as I had pretty high expectations (no, I was not expecting an Oscar-winning movie, and my expectations were definitely in tune with what Romanian movie-making is capable of).It was very sad to see the movie exploiting a known formula for good reviews and perhaps an award or two - politically involved plot + movie revealing all the negative aspects of Romania + exploiting the political circumstances = movie with great reviews that "tells it like it is".I was very sorry to hear about the death of the director, however I found it very distasteful to inform the audience of his death at the beginning of the movie, in what was clearly an attempt to gain the sympathy of the viewers.
If they really wanted to account for the fact that the movie was unfinished, they could have said it at the end, so as not to have people watching the whole movie thinking of how sad it was that he died.Overall, I rate this movie a 5/10, for all the reasons stated above, and find it to be a step up from a lot of other Romanian movies out there (of which I consider Filantropica to be one of the best if not the single best)..
The film, California Dreamin', shows the love hate relationship that much of the world has with the United States.
His heroes had let him down and now he hates them.Dolaru is able to get away with stopping the train for several days because the Romanian government doesn't function very efficiently in this movie.
Captain Jones expected the Romanian government to let him cross the country without following proper railway protocol, and Dolaru expected the American government to expend resources to specifically save the Romanians during a World War encompassed several nations.
"You mince the meat and you get a paste." - than electricity ïs cut off, - after a break he continues shocking "That's probably what those people in Yugoslavia look like"So Doiaru didn't let the Americans go (with all costs) because he hated them for what they are doing in Yugoslavia (beside the fact that he waited them in vain for a life).