California Dreamin’ (Endless)/California Dreamin’ (nesfârșit) (2007) | by Cristian Nemescu

*All movies are in Romanian with English subtitles

A NATO gun shipment supervised by an American officer that’s scheduled to cross Romania via train during the Kosovo war of the late 1990s is blocked by a stubborn rural station official who objects to the lack of accompanying documents. What follows is an epic farce of carnivalesque proportions, touching on cultural misunderstandings, corruption, vengeance and the American dream.

“Its themes are serious, but they are addressed with a playful exuberance,” wrote A.O. Scott in the New York Times back in 2007. Today, revisiting Nemescu’s feature debut, released after his death in 2006, one thing’s for sure: The film’s seduction and electrifying rock’n’roll vitality – far removed from the stripped-down realism of most of New Romanian Cinema’s big hits – remain unaltered.

Trailer

Romania, 2007, 155 min
Director: Cristian Nemescu
Screenplay: Tudor Voican, Cristian Nemescu, Catherine Linstrum
Cinematography: Liviu Marghidan
Cast: Armand Assante, Răzvan Vasilescu, Jamie Elman, Maria Dinulescu, Ioan Săpdaru, Andi Vasluianu
Production: Media Pro Pictures
Festivals: Un Certain Regard Award Winner – Cannes 2007
Romanian and English with English subtitles