California Dreamin’ (Endless)

Colour, 35 mm
Romania, 2006, 155 min
Section: East of the West - Films in Competition

Synopsis

It is May 1999; a NATO military train under the command of American Captain Jones is journeying across Romania. The transport is heading for the Serbian border where radars are to be installed to monitor the Serb-Kosovan conflict. The resolute and upright Jones, however, comes up against an invincible obstacle in the shape of the crafty and slightly mafia-esque Doiaru, the railway chief of a secluded train station who makes use of the administrative chaos to have the transport stopped and shunted onto a siding. His behaviour, among other things, reflects his attempts to cure himself of a trauma from his childhood; for the villagers, however, the Americans’ enforced stopover provides an opportunity for each of them to think of ways to make the most of the given situation. The slow tempo of the narration allows for a detailed exposé of the circumstances, where faithful psychological observations are cleverly combined with ironic abbreviation. The result is an eloquent tragicomedy with incisive critical reflection on both the intimate and social level, in a story which doubles as a universally articulate parable.

About the director

Cristian Nemescu (1979–2006) gained his diploma in 2003 from the Theatre and Film Academy in Bucharest. He wrote and directed five short films, nearly all awarded at domestic and foreign festivals, and then moved on to his first feature film California Dreamin’. This film, which he co-wrote, has the subtitle Endless – not in the sense of “unending”, but “unfinished”, a fact which relates to a tragic event: Nemescu and his sound editor were killed in a car crash when they were returning from the cutting room after working together on Nemescu’s debut. It is not known whether he would have made any changes or revisions to what is now the film’s final version...