ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

RECENT Romanian cinema has caught the attention of the world. Films like The Death Of Mr Lazarescu and 12.08 East Of Bucharest have confirmed a new wave of talent at work in the country. Cristian Nemescu was tipped as a leading figure in that renaissance until his tragic death in a car accident when he was just 27. His first and only feature, California Dreamin’, reveals the great filmmaker who was lost to us.

California Dreamin’ has all the ambition and scope of a great novel. Big themes and small details are woven together in a sprawling narrative that mostly unfolds in 1999. Loosely based on a true incident, it follows US Marine Captain Jones (Armand Assante) as he takes command of a NATO mission to deliver vital equipment to Yugoslavia during the war in Kosovo.

That mission is thwarted when his train arrives in the sleepy backwater of Capalnita where station master Doiaru (Razvan Vasilescu) refuses to let them proceed without the proper paperwork. Jones and his men are to spend five days marooned in the village and lives will never be the same again.

California Dreamin’ has the feel of an Ealing comedy as the might of America is halted by the intransigence of one bureaucrat, but it darkens into a much more tragic tale of bitter memories and age old resentment about America’s refusal to save Romania from the Nazis or the Soviets in the dying days of World War Two.

Long and leisurely in places, California Dreamin’ is still a film that is timely, engaging and very poignant.

Selected nationwide release

Director: Cristian Nemescu
Cast: Armand Assante, Razvan Vasilescu, Jamie Elman, Maria Dinulescu, Ion Sapdaru.
Screenwriters: Cristian Nemescu, Tudor Voican
Certificate: 15
Running time: 155 mins
Country: Romania
Year: 2007