California Dreamin' (Nesfarsit) (Endless) (2007)

89% of critics liked it
(19 reviews)
81% of users liked it
(2,009 ratings)

Romanian director Cristian Nemescu's comedy California Dreamin' (aka Nesfarsit, 2007) unfolds against the backdrop of the Kosovo War, circa 1999. A NATO train rolls through a Romanian hamlet, transporting a plethora of weapons across the country -- without official documents, and equipped only with… More Romanian director Cristian Nemescu's comedy California Dreamin' (aka Nesfarsit, 2007) unfolds against the backdrop of the Kosovo War, circa 1999. A NATO train rolls through a Romanian hamlet, transporting a plethora of weapons across the country -- without official documents, and equipped only with the verbal consent of the Romanian authorities. The transport thus grows intensely vulnerable to the locals -- particularly the corrupt head of the railway station, who moonlights as a mobster and promptly decides to interfere with the shipment. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 2 hr. 35 min.
Directed By: Cristian Nemescu
Written By: Cristian Nemescu, Tudor Voican
Genres: Drama, Art House & International, Comedy

In Theaters: May 26, 2007 Wide
On DVD: May 4, 2010
Studio: Artificial Eye

Critic Reviews

Anthony Lane, New Yorker
It could use a trim, but only rarely does it strain for effect, and, for a young man, Nemescu was uncannily versed in the emotions of middle age.
V.A. Musetto, New York Post
For now at least, we have to be content with this pleasing comedy in search of an editor.
A.O. Scott, New York Times
California Dreamin' is a rambunctious, closely observed comedy of cultural collision.
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer
At its present length it sprawls shamelessly in terms of the ultimate futility of its narrative.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
A sharp-edged socio-political satire that clearly lets Americans know how they are viewed abroad by foreigners.
James Plath, Movie Metropolis
A solid film that reminds us of how America is perceived throughout the world, and what a loss it was that director Nemescu died so young.
Sean Axmaker, Seanax.com
... part goofy village comedy, part geopolitical allegory, part satire.
Cynthia Fuchs, PopMatters
California Dreamin' mostly observes a series of complicated personal interactions, its point helped along by Doiaru's speeches concerning the ongoing American failure even to try to comprehend the populations it invades, assimilates, abuses, and buys off.
Avi Offer, NYC Movie Guru
"Occasionally drags and slightly overstays its welcome, but still it's mostly intriguing and intelligent.
Eric Monder, Film Journal International
Another rewarding dark satire from Romania, the feature debut of a director who died tragically young.
Ben Walters, Time Out New York
A deft fable that maps global concerns onto a local story with confidence and wit.
Andrew Schenker, Slant Magazine
The film plays out with an impressive singularity of purpose.
Keith Uhlich, House Next Door
What surprises and delights is how complete the work feels, finished in every way aesthetically and thematically, any longueurs or asides entirely part of Nemescu's indelible emotional tapestry.
Jeremy Heilman, MovieMartyr.com
[It] could do with some editing (indeed, the parenthetical in the title refers to its unshaped state), but there's just as little doubt that Nemescu's work is pretty worthy as is.
Matthew Turner, ViewLondon
Engaging, impressively directed and ultimately devastating drama with strong performances and a powerful political message.
Wally Hammond, Time Out
Nemescu's promising young voice will be sorely missed, not only in Romanian cinema but also on the international scene.
Boyd van Hoeij, european-films.net
Unfinished but certainly not unworthy; a diamond in the rough.
Dan Fainaru, Screen International
As it looks now, the film lacks any pace to speak of, but much more serious are the absence of a distinct narrative style and an abundance of hesitant directorial decisions, badly in need of an editing table, if the plot has to make sense at all.

Read all 18 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Ross C

Reviews make this movie sound like a Romanian Kusturica movie, but the truth is that this story about bureaucracy is every bit as dull as its subject: "An astonishing debut feature, Nemescu's bold and brilliant satire has modern-day Romania and US foreign policy firmly in… More
Reviews make this movie sound like a Romanian Kusturica movie, but the truth is that this story about bureaucracy is every bit as dull as its subject: "An astonishing debut feature, Nemescu's bold and brilliant satire has modern-day Romania and US foreign policy firmly in its sights. In 1999, a secret NATO train filled with US Marines is halted by a bolshy local station master-cum-black marketeer. What follows is a rambunctious Balkan farce that shades inexorably into tragedy as the soldiers and the townspeople try to fraternise. A happy outcome was never possible and, as the town implodes, the Americans move blithely on to Kosovo, unaware of the violence they have unleashed. Sadly, this will be Nemescu's only feature, as both he and his sound editor were killed in a car crash while still working on the film." That last sentence may well explain the lack of editing, and sound for that matter...
Gordon A

Interesting tale of culture clash at a Romanian train station linked to historical events. Similar themes to the WWII 'Americans oversexed and overhere' films of the 80's.
Arash X

An unfinished excellent movie that has nothing less than a finished excellent movie
Walter M

It is 1999, and Captain Doug Jones(Armand Assante) is leading a joint NATO taskforce through Romania to bring telecommunications equipment to aid in the bombing in Kosovo. As luck would have it, they only make it as far as a small village where they are held up by Doiaru(Razvan… More
It is 1999, and Captain Doug Jones(Armand Assante) is leading a joint NATO taskforce through Romania to bring telecommunications equipment to aid in the bombing in Kosovo. As luck would have it, they only make it as far as a small village where they are held up by Doiaru(Razvan Vasilescu), the station master, for lack of customs papers. The mayor(Ion Sapdaru) can do nothing to aid their progress. It's a shame because Doiaru's teenaged daughter Monica(Maria Dinulescu) was hoping to ride the train to escape to Bucharest but is brought back by her father's men, with a platoon of marines looking on helplessly. She's not the only person in town who hates her father as Nae(Gabriel Spahiu) has to take a number with his work stoppage. "California Dreamin'" is a decent enough tragicomedy and satirical allegory of both Romania's relationship to the world and America's effects on everybody else. It might seem a little odd that very few people in the village can speak English(yet, they can find an Elvis impersonator) in a post-Communist world but not so much that the Americans can only speak English.(Although, Romanian might make for a obscure choice in any case.) At the same time, despite their military might, a single stationmaster can bring everything to a halt. That's okay. Sometimes, a day off can do the world of good.(I really do sympathize with being stuck on a stopped train for a prolonged amount of time.) However, a lot of this feels forced with a slight "Romeo and Juliet" story line thrown in for good measure. For the record, absurd situations in Eastern Europe have been the stuff of fiction for a long time, but usually with no explanations given which is kind of the point.
Daisy M

California Dreaming was too long. For me the movie had multiple-personality disorder, meaning it was a comedy, a love story, then a touching story, suddenly a shocking, violent war drama. Not that these elements could not be combined in one movie, but it should fit together and felt… More
California Dreaming was too long. For me the movie had multiple-personality disorder, meaning it was a comedy, a love story, then a touching story, suddenly a shocking, violent war drama. Not that these elements could not be combined in one movie, but it should fit together and felt like one story, or presented as separate stories. instead, everything was mashed together in weird way where it felt like each scene had a different director.I wasn't sure what the point of the movie was. Perhaps some scenes in the movie helped build up to the ending, but some didn't seem to fit with that story line at all.
Robert F

MIFF '08: Because the director died at some point during production, this film was released without an ending. I can't imagine what else they planned to tack on as a finale - it already had a running time of two and a half hours, which was far too long in my opinion. But… More
MIFF '08: Because the director died at some point during production, this film was released without an ending. I can't imagine what else they planned to tack on as a finale - it already had a running time of two and a half hours, which was far too long in my opinion. But anyway, I liked what they had as an ending. It was ambiguous, but it wrapped things up quite nicely for Monica (who I saw as the main character in a cast of thousands) - although the fact that her body was seemingly an electrical conductor remains a mystery to me. There was a nice balance between comedy and drama - the black and white scenes dispersed throughout the film were especially epic and unsettling. It was just the length that got to me in the end. A lot could been cut out without damaging the story, I think.