California Dreamin' (Endless)
California Dreamin' (Nesfarsit)
(Romania, 2007, 155 mins)
In Romanian, English with English subtitles
35mm
Wisconsin Premiere
Directed By: Christian Nemescu
writer: Cristian Nemescu, Tudor Voican
cinematographer: Liviu Marghidan
editor: Catalin Cristutiu
costumes: Ana Ioneci
art director: Ioana Corciova
sound: Cristian Tarnovetchi
executive producers: Iuliana Tarnovetchi, Dan Badea
producer: Andrei Boncea
cast: Armand Assante, Razvan Vasilescu, Jamie Elman, Maria Dinulescu, Ioan Sapdaru, Andi Vasluianu, Alex. Margineanu, Gabriel Spahiu, Catalina Mustata
A U.S. military squadron is escorting a train through Romania (circa 1999), delivering a top-secret payload to the Serbian border. As it passes through the backwater town of Capalnita, the local stationmaster grinds the convoy to a halt, forcing the Americans to cool their heels for a few days while the appropriate documents are filed. It’s a rambunctious comedy invoking the spirit of Catch-22 in its irreverent treatment of government officials and wartime policy. Everyone’s on the take, except the American captain played as the square-jawed straight man by Armand Assante. The soldiers are loose among the local lasses, the workers at the ball-bearing factory are on strike, and the situation starts building up to an explosive conclusion. No description of this film is complete without mention that its director died a few weeks after the main scenes were filmed. The resulting film was edited after his death, which explains the parenthetical “Endless” added to the title, in the sense of “unfinished.” “A complex dark comedy of near-Shakespearean proportions.” — Variety. Winner, Un Certain Regard Award, 2007 Cannes Film Festival.
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