California Dreamin"/Nesfarsit (2007) Romania
Directed by Christian Nemescu
In the roles - Razvan Vasilescu, Maria Denulescu, Alexandra Marginyan, Ion Sepdrau, Armand Assante
Tragicomedy by Christian Nemescu.
A very simple and understandable movie about life in a small town. We see the life and everyday life of all the residents of the city, who are literally choking from life here. No education, no job, no prospects. Men drink, women can’t stand such a life, young people desperately want to go far away. But when Americans appear in the city, everyone suddenly comes to life. The head of the railway station, who is also the owner of the city, refuses to miss the NATO train without documents and Americans have to stay in the city, get acquainted with the local population and modern customs. The mayor of the city - a spineless power with a thief - immediately begins to take care of American guests in every possible way, organizing holidays in their honor every day and he is so obedient to the Americans that he is ready to almost wipe their ass with them. Local girls begin to hang around the neck of American guys, hoping that they will take them to America, and those, in turn, are very actively using this, which is dissatisfied with the local guys. Almost all the residents of the city begin to show themselves from the other, “best” side and it looks very, very funny. Only a few manage to preserve the human face and dignity, showing Americans that they are not masters here and they will have to live by local laws. The head of the railway station, Doyaru, who refuses to miss the American train and is not afraid of any threats, neither from American officers nor from the Romanian government, stands out against the general background. In a word, a real man.
Doyaru is the mayor of the city, which is very dissatisfied with the mayor, so he creates in the eyes of the people and American soldiers the image of a Doyaru tyrant who steals money honestly earned by citizens. With the help of American officers, he raises the people to “rebellion” with the slogans “Stop it!” and the like. Very funny, but at the same time sad satire on the bending of persons with insufficient power to the democratic world for their own benefit.
The film can be called a comedy, but with a very big stretch, because there are enough sad moments in it - this film is very much reminiscent of Kusturica's films, which also manages to cause tears and a smile on the face at the same time. Nemescu was very successful in balancing comedy and tragedy. It is a pity that he will no longer delight us with masterpieces. And this film can be called a masterpiece - this is perhaps the most honest and piercing picture of life in a small city, about the destruction of great hopes of small people.