California Dreamin' (Nesfarsit)

2007

2h 35m

Comedy

Drama

List

89%

Tomatometer

18 Reviews

82%

Audience Score

1,000+ Ratings

A railway chief delays a shipment of weapons for NATO forces during the Kosovo War in 1999.

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Ben Walters

Time Out

Rated: 4/5

Nov 17, 2011

Full Review

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.

Jan 26, 2009

Full Review

V.A. Musetto

New York Post

For now at least, we have to be content with this pleasing comedy in search of an editor.

Jan 23, 2009

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

A sharp-edged socio-political satire that clearly lets Americans know how they are viewed abroad by foreigners.

Rated: A-

May 17, 2010

Full Review

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.

Rated: 8/10

May 8, 2010

Full Review

Sean Axmaker

Seanax.com

... part goofy village comedy, part geopolitical allegory, part satire.

May 4, 2010

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Audience Member

Cristian Nemescu's final film is an interesting, often funny look at cultural differences in a small Romanian town.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

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Audience Member

Un Certain Regard Award winner in Cannes Film Festival 2007. It was an unfinished piece by the late director Cristian Nemescu; & reported that editing was just done based on the script writing without any trimmings. And it is therefore such overlong, crude, loose & trivial although there were a few interesting moments. What's the real picture would be a forever question mark. However, I don't think the film would have been made briefer even though it was finished by the director himself, according to the tradition of Eastern European Cinema.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Very sharp and well produced. This is a Romanian perspective on the Balkans conflict, and is about delaying tactics employed to prevent US military technology reaching Kosovo. It's also very funny, and very insightful about small town / village politics in backwoods Romania. It's so tragic that the director was killed before completing the final cut. He was in a taxi that was in collision with a Porsche driven by a British driver in Bucharest. Irony on irony.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

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

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

An excellent metaphor for US foreign policy in that it portrays an actual incident that happened at the time of the Kosovo bombings â" a shipment of radar equipment is held up in small town Romania by a corrupt station officer â" a man who is certainly no respecter of superpower reputations. Romania still comes across as a backwater although itâ(TM)s Summer and so there is less out and out grimness than in other recent films such as The Death of Mr. Lazarescu. Itâ(TM)s a comedy, albeit tinged with tragedy and unhappiness and thus fulfils many of the criteria of a great film â" the languid pace suits it and the untimely death of the director in a road accident has robbed us of a major talent.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Futile drama, thoroughly disappointing and undisciplined narrative ruins it. The director simply should have made it a love story - instead he rambles on and on endlessly, untiringly.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

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Cristian Nemescu

Director

Armand Assante

Cpt. Doug Jones

Jamie Elman

Sg. David McLaren

Razvan Vasilescu

Doiaru

Catherine Linstrum

Writer

Cristian Nemescu

Writer

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Synopsis

A railway chief delays a shipment of weapons for NATO forces during the Kosovo War in 1999.

Director: Cristian Nemescu
Screenwriter: Catherine Linstrum, Cristian Nemescu, Tudor Voican
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 26, 2020
Runtime: 2h 35m

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