''California Dreamin' (endless)'' ( ro, California Dreamin' (nesfârșit)) is a 2007 Romanian film by
Cristian Nemescu
Cristian Nemescu (; 31 March 1979 – 24 August 2006) was a Romanian film director.
Nemescu was born in Bucharest. He graduated from the Academy for Theater and Film in 2003. During his final year in the academy he made a short film, ''Story Fr ...
. It won the
Prix un certain regard
(, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob.
The section presents 20 films w ...
at the
2007 Cannes Film Festival
The 60th Cannes Film Festival ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. The President of the Jury was British director Stephen Frears. Twenty two films from twelve countries were selected to compete for the Palme d'Or. The awards were announced on 26 May. ''4 M ...
. It also picked up the
Iris Award
The NATPE Iris Awards are an honor for local television programming excellence presented annually in the United States by the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE). The awards were introduced in 1968 and were initially tit ...
for Best Film, the Audience Award and the Canvas Award at the Brussels European Film Festival 2007. The film is also sometimes called ''Endless'' in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, ''nesfârșit'' being Romanian for "endless".
The director died before editing was completed. MediaPro Studios decided to edit the film with the entirety of the material left by Nemescu, a decision which led to the considerable runtime of 155 minutes.
Plot
'
The plot is based on a true story: in 1999, during the
NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. The bombings continued until an a ...
, a train containing
America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
n radar equipment required in
Kosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
, guarded by a small troop of American and
Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
**Romanian cuisine, traditional ...
soldiers, went through Romania and was stopped for four days in a small village in
Oltenia
Oltenia (, also called Lesser Wallachia in antiquated versions, with the alternative Latin names ''Wallachia Minor'', ''Wallachia Alutana'', ''Wallachia Caesarea'' between 1718 and 1739) is a historical province and geographical region of Romania ...
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
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, 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.
Reception
On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 89% based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 6.90/10.
Keith Uhlich of ''
Time Out New York
''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 328 cities in 58 countries worldwide.
In 2012, the London edition becam ...
'' named ''California Dreamin'' the third-best film of 2009.
The film also got a 3 out of 4 from Andrew Schenker of ''
Slant Magazine
''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...
''.
Cast
*
Armand Assante
Armand Anthony Assante Jr. (; born October 4, 1949) is an American actor. He played mobster John Gotti in the 1996 HBO television film '' Gotti'', Odysseus in the 1997 mini-series adaptation of Homer's ''The Odyssey'', Nietzsche in ''When Niet ...
as Captain Doug Jones
*
Jamie Elman
Benjamin David "Jamie" Elman (born July 5, 1976) is a Canadian American actor, best known for his leading roles of Cody Miller on YTV's ''Student Bodies,'' Luke Foley in NBC's ''American Dreams,'' and himself in '' Yidlife Crisis''.
Life and car ...
as Sergeant David McLaren
*
Razvan Vasilescu as Doiaru
*
Maria Dinulescu
Maria Dinulescu (; born 2 May 1981 in Ploieşti) is a Romanian actress.
Acting career
Maria Dinulescu studied acting at the National University of Cinema and Drama in Bucharest, Romania. She came to international attention in 2003, when one of ...
as Monica
*
Alexandru Margineanu as Andrei
*
Ion Sapdaru as The Mayor
*
Alexandru Dragoi
Alexandru is the Romanian form of the name Alexander. Common diminutives are Alecu, Alex, and Sandu.
Origin
Etymologically, the name is derived from the Greek "Αλέξανδρος" (Aléxandros), meaning "defending men" or "protector of men", ...
as Rodriguez
*
Andi Vasluianu as Soldier Marian
See also
*
Romanian New Wave
The Romanian New Wave ( ro, Noul val românesc) is a Film genre, genre of Realism (arts)#Cinema, realist and often Minimalism#Minimalism in film, minimalist films made in Romania since the mid-aughts, starting with two award-winning shorts by two R ...
References
Further reading
Chivoiu, Oana (2011) “Cristian Nemescu's California Dreamin' (Endless): A Cinematic Radiography of a National Dream”, in: manycinemas 1, 54-6
Online
External links
*
*
ttp://www.festival-cannes.com/index.php/en/article/55652 California Dreamin' (endless) at 2007 Cannes Film Festival
{{Un Certain Regard
2000s Romanian-language films
2000s English-language films
English-language Romanian films
2007 films
2007 drama films
Films directed by Cristian Nemescu
Romanian drama films
Yugoslav Wars films
Works about the Kosovo War
2007 multilingual films
Romanian multilingual films