By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Cristian Nemescu
Starring: Armand Assante | Jamie Elman | Razvan Vasilescu
Original language title: Nesfarsit
Country: romania
Year: 2009
Running time: 155
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449573/
Bruce says: “At a glance it seems that director Cristian Nemescu was influenced by American pop culture. While that may be true to a certain extent it also appears that Nemescu’s filmmaking owes a larger debt to Emir Kusturica whose films such as BLACK CAT, WHITE CAT; WHEN FATHER WAS AWAY ON BUSINESS; and UNDERGROUND explore the intricate and absurd composition of culture. His films explain how diverse and unlikely combinations of religion, sex, politics, social mores, institutionalized hatred, petty likes and dislikes, and military strategy create a people’s immediate fate and , to a larger extent, their history. (Amusingly, Kusturica also directed a little known film in America called ARIZONA DREAM with Johnny Depp, Jerry Lewis, Faye Dunaway, Lili Taylor, Vincent Gallo, & Michael J. Pollard.) CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’ tips its hat to THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, the American film it most closely resembles in spirit.
“CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’ is a black comedy that explores the absurdity of Romanian culture by telling the 1999 story of a NATO train bound for Kosovo which is stopped in the small village of Capalnita by a stationmaster who exerts his authority without reason or common sense. He demands to see their papers which they do not have since they already have special UN clearance from the Romanian President. ‘No papers, no passage’ declares the stationmaster (Razvan Vasilescu) with a pumped-up pomposity only a petty bureaucrat could muster. ‘Fuck the USA, fuck NATO, fuck Bill Clinton: I’m in charge here.’ The captain of the NATO operation, the American Doug Jones (Armand Assante), is dumbfounded yet confident that the situation can be remedied with just a phone call. Clearly, he is not familiar with business dealings in Romania. For years, the stationmaster has used his position to hijack cargo trains and sell the goods on the black market. Half the village fears him and the other half is indebted to him.
“The mayor seizes the opportunity to stage a 100th Anniversary Party for the village while the train is held hostage. Never mind that the celebration was already held during the prior year, the mayor know an opportunity when he sees one. The party is a madcap affair. An Elvis impersonator entertains while local farmers herd cattle through town and the local Communists stage a demonstration. The young girls of the village flock to where the soldiers are hanging out, some in search of love and others, a ticket to the USA. During the centennial celebration an attractive blonde uses her best studied English to ask a young man in uniform ‘Do you dance?’ not realizing he is a Romanian translator. In Capalnita it is appearances and perceptions of reality that drive things. It is the daughter of the stationmaster (Maria Dinelescu) who falls hardest for one of the American soldiers (Jamie Elman). As one man irrationally explains the current delay, ‘We waited for the Americans to come to save us from the Germans, the Russians and Ceausescu.’ That transparently translates into ‘It’s time for the Americans to do some waiting. ‘
“Nemescu tragically was killed in a hit and run accident in Bucharest while he was editing this film, which explains its rambling length. In all respects his appears to be a rare talent. The script is witty; the complicated themes and situations make perfect nonsensical sense; his use of the camera, particularly the way he frames his close-ups, is cunning. Nemescu turns a simple moment in time into a tableau of the absurd. 5 cats”