Reviewed by Michael Edwards
Stars Armand Assante, Razvan Vasilescu, Jamie Elman,
Maria Dinulescu, Alexandru Margineanu, Ion Sapdaru,
Alexandru Dragoi, Andi Vasluianu, Sabina Branduse
Written by Catherine Linstrum & Cristian Nemescu
Certification UK 15
Runtime 155 minutes
Directed by Cristian Nemescu
An incredibly long (155 minutes) and complicated piece about the Romanian psyche, biggest surprise is that the confusingly entitled California Dreamin' (Endless) is that it's actually quite fun too. Set in the late stages of the NATO bombardment of Kosovo in 1999, we follow a motley group of American soldiers under the command of Captain Jones (Armand Assante) who are on a mission to install a radar station in the south of Romania. The mission has approval from the Romanian government, but because it's so hush hush nobody knows about it the precious cargo does not have the relevant transit documents. This fact is pounced upon by the officious and virulently anti-American stationmaster of a small town (Razvan Vasilescu) who refuses passage and takes the train off the rails. What ensues is a farce of grand proportions, revealing stereotypes from both sides, playfully poking fun at the nastier sides of bureacracy both in the US army and Romanian government, as well as delving deeply into the mindset of the abandoned folk of this small Romanian village.
It really is astounding to see how much Nemescu fitted into this one, admittedly long, feature. We flit between the past, when a World War Two bomb smashes open the naive assumptions of the Romanians sat waiting for American aid, to the present when these tensions resurface and frustration becomes palpable. We see the next generation of disillusioned youth attempt to woo American soldiers in the hope that they'll take them away from their small village, we see the rife corruption of the government bureaucracy in a wry critique of the still ineffectual post-communist power structure and we see the power of the human spirit overcome even the most insurmountable language barriers.
Wry and irreverant, critical and ascerbic, and by the end brutally attacking American militarism. Is your head ready to explode? Mine was. The fact that so much is crammed in and that it runs for so long means that this film does end up being a bit too ambitious. But if any film has an excuse it's this one. Director Cristian Nemescu was tragically killed in a car accident before his project was completed, and what we are able to see at cinemas now is just the most recent edit as he left it. (The bracketed 'Endless' in the title is a mistranslation of the Romanian word Nesfârşit which means unfinished). Perhaps he would have trimmed it down a bit, tidied up some of the more meandering plot points, and neatened up the cuts. But the sad thing is we'll never know. Nonetheless I for one am thankful that this film is being shown because, for all of its rough-edged ramblings, it has a hell of a lot to say, and provides plenty of classic scenes of powerful emotion and mirth. A great all–rounder for those of you patient enough to give it a chance.