Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

ecmelton-186-105049 The film, California Dreamin', shows the love hate relationship that much of the world has with the United States. America creates a large volume of pop culture in the form of movies, TV shows, music, and fashion trends that endears their culture to much of the world. However, the actions of the American government and military are very heavily criticized on the world stage. As a global superpower the US is expected to handle their foreign affairs delicately. If they act too much they are viewed as overbearing tyrants, and if they act too little people question why America isn't doing more to help out. The stationmaster, Mr Dolaru, stops a NATO train even though they have permission to cross Romania. It's revealed throughout the film that Dolaru is purposely trying to be an obstruction to the American military. Through flashbacks and dialog the story of Dolaru's early life explains the animosity he has for the Americans. The city where he lived with his family during WWII was frequently bombed by the Germans and his parents repeatedly talked about how the Americans were going to come in and save the day. This never happens. Instead the much harsher Soviet Army drives the Germans out of Romania. In the process they make prisoners of anyone that had any connections with the Nazis, including Dolaru's parents. Dolaru never saw his parents again and blames America for not saving his parents and not being the heroes he thought they should have been. It appears Dolaru idolized the Americans before he lost his parents. His early infatuation probably contributed to him becoming extremely bitter about their lack of involvement in protecting Romania because he saw it as a betrayal. His heroes had let him down and now he hates them.Dolaru is able to get away with stopping the train for several days because the Romanian government doesn't function very efficiently in this movie. People in various government offices are shown trying to get the proper paperwork that they think will convince Dolaru to let the Americans pass and ultimately failing. This is an interesting role reversal. In the 1940s the American government did not act to help the Romanians in the way they were expected to, and in the in the main events of this film the Romanian government is not helping the Americans in the way they were expected to either. This parallel could serve a few different purposes. Its intent could have been to show that everyone had unrealistic expectations of how much help they were entitled to. Captain Jones expected the Romanian government to let him cross the country without following proper railway protocol, and Dolaru expected the American government to expend resources to specifically save the Romanians during a World War encompassed several nations. Neither party is really justified in expecting the other to cater to them, but, they both get very upset when they don't get their way. Admittedly, they were both in very serious situations, with Dolaru losing his parents and Jones losing military lives in Kosovo, but their expectation of special treatment is setting themselves up for failure. If the NATO train had all the proper paperwork and didn't just expect to be let by because they felt what they were doing was important, Dolaru may not have gone on a personal vendetta against them. Likewise if Dolaru's family had left the city or the country instead of waiting around for the Americans to save them, they likely wouldn't have been captured by the Soviets. The American bomb from WWII that explodes later in movie seems to support the theme that relying too much on others is going to end up coming back to bite you. The Americans never came to save to Romanians but they still dropped a bomb that blew up part of the city and knocked out the power. How much damage would they have done if they had actually come to help?Most of the people in the town view the American culture as a novelty and treat the American soldiers the same way. They aren't interested in any of the political or military aspects of America. Some of the people in the town, the mayor in particular, don't seem to have any depthful understanding of America. They like Elvis, and they like cowboys, so they like America. That is the extent of their knowledge.Many of the town's girls are attracted to the American soldiers because they want an American to fall in love with them and take them back to America. That is a fairly unrealistic expectation to have after a five day relationship. Monica has a more realistic understanding that their relationship is not going to work out or last. At the end of the movie she doesn't even give her love interest her phone number when he ask for it, instead drawing a smiley faced sun on his hand instead. At the beginning of the film she is so eager to leave that she sneaks on the American train, but by the end of the film she decided to stay and go to college. It's not entirely clear why she does this. It could be that she just has a better grounding in reality.The lyrics to song "California Dreamin'" by the Mama's and the Papa's describe a person who is tried to their drab winter setting and spends their time wishing they were under the warm California sun instead. This also accurately describes the way most of the townspeople in Capalnita view America compared to their own home. They view their small town as boring and only think of the exciting and culturally rich aspects when they envision America. This means that a lot of people either have an unwarranted love for America or an unusual amount of disdain when they realize the truth that America isn't all that much different or better than their own country.

tiantian4100 Monica and David met, fell in love and separated at last in 2 or 3 days.When their bodies were connected, it looks like they will be like that forever. However in the end, you will find a love could last no longer than the length of a sex.If you wanna keep it hot, then keep it short. My favorite scene is their first "conversation". Monica can't speak any English. She brought her classmate to see David. This guy can speak English, Monica needed his help to do translation. "How old is she?" "He wants to know your age." "Tell him Im 18" "She says she is 18. But she's not.""Ask him whether he has girlfriend" "She ask you if you have girlfriend" "Tell her she is cute. She's very very cute" "He said he has more than one"I was chuckling when i watched this. you can't complain that Romanian guy was lying, because he told the truth. he was 'translating' true information between Monica and David. He and Monica came together at last, not David. He loves her. He taught Monica English first by teaching her the song "California dreaming"All the leaves are brown / And the sky is gray / I've been for a walk / On a winter's day / I'd be safe and warm / If I was in L.A / California dreaming / On such a winter's day

dromasca Cannes 2007 was great for the Romanian cinema. While Cristian Mungiu's '4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days' was collecting the 'Palme d'Or' another Romanian movie was receiving the alternative 'Un Certain Regard' prize. This was a debut big screen film but unfortunately also an and of career film, as director Cristian Nemescu died in a car accident last year.The story based on real events happens in the Wild East landscape of 1998 Romania, the period of transition, a time when everything can happen even in places where usually nothing happens. The main character named Doiaru is one of the dubious 'entrepeneurs' of the era, he is the chief of a railway station trying to get rich by almost openly stealing from the freight trains that pass through his station. He's the type of guy who doesn't miss an opportunity. When a military transport guarded by a small American unit on its way to the NATO war scene in Yugoslavia enters his fief he decides to stop it under the pretext that the transport misses the necessary paperwork. It is not clear why he is doing it, he does not accept bribes, he certainly is not a lawful citizen, and even politics do not seem to be his motivation. Maybe it's just personal, maybe he just wants to show he is in control. The result is that the American soldiers and their commanding officer captain Jones which had over-passed until then at modern vehicles speed all the horse-driven carriages of the Romanian peasants find themselves suddenly stuck as a situation that resembles some spaceship having landed on an unknown planet.We know from flashback scenes run in parallel with the main action that Doiaru is the son in a family of the enemies of the former Communist rule, the type of guys who had been waiting for decades as most of the Romanian people for the West and especially from the Americans to come to their rescue. In one of the key scenes in the movie Doiaru tells Jones something like: 'We have been waiting for you since War War II. You did not come to rescue us from the Germans, you did not come to rescue us from the Russians, you did not come to rescue us from the communists and Ceausescu. Now you come?' Actually what is left to be saved in 1990 Romania? Maybe to save the Romanian from themselves seems to say the authors of the movie who are extremely critical about the state of the Romanian society represented by the village in the middle of nowhere. A society where corruption and demagogy seems to be the rule, which mimics democracy without understanding or practicing it, where even the dreams of the young seem to be corrupt.The other question is whether the Americans can play the role of saviors. Doubful seems the film to be saying. For the majority of the movie the two groups cannot communicate one with the other and when they do they rather mis-communicate than communicate. If Romania and the West lost contact half a century ago re-connecting does not seem a simple task, as history has brought the two worlds not on parallel by remote and separate Universes. Even when commander Jones decides to do what to him looks like the right thing and takes part his decision is based on mis-communication and lack of understanding of the local culture and policy. The result is a disaster, people kill one another when the Americans leave, and those are not even aware about what happened as they have again mis-interpreted the shooting nosies and fireworks prepared by the local gangsters to hide the noise as something organized in their honor.This is a complex movie that can be interpreted at different levels. At the political level it is a strong critic of the corruption and moral emptiness of the Romanian society and of the cultural insensitivity and lack of compassion of the West for the young nations in Eastern Europe, as well as a pessimistic view on chances of intervention. At a human level there is little compassion for any of the parts, maybe the young people are somehow looked at more sympathetically, their perspective also seems to be limited. The story telling is cursive, characters speak to us and actors really meld into the film. The best was for me Razvan Vasilescu, a genial actor who already made a few roles that describe best the character of the villains of the Romanian transition.Cristian Nemescu could not finish the film, and the title bears a sign - 'nesfarsit' means literally 'not terminated' and 'endless' speaking figuratively. It does not look by any means as an unfinished piece of cinema, and I like to believe that the title rather symbols the permanence of what happens in the movie, the need to recognize that building a sound future cannot be done without acknowledging what happened in the past.

observator_ro All of us, when tired, look for an easy and full of fun or action movie in a Hollywood style. However, once in a while, sooner rather than later, is not bad watching a movie that makes us use a little our brain in conjunction with our emotions. California Dreamin' is such a movie. First of all, you must take into account that this movie was not post-processed almost at all due to the tragically death of its director. It is useless to think how it would have been looked if it was finished by Nemescu. We have to look at it as it is. Even like this, movie was brilliantly directed making me remember of Antonioni's Blow-Out. Lots of people would not like it because it shows too much poverty or does not show all aspects of Balkan's life or just because is not a Hollywood movie. Let's be straight, no movie gives you a panorama about a region's life, for this you should watch News or read magazines. Movies give you a vision built by a group of people starting with the screenwriter and ending with its director. You may agree with it or not but this is not important. Important is if after a while it makes you think and if it does the movie was not useless. Others didn't like the movie being ambiguous but they forget that this is an art movie which is not giving you solutions, but based on presented facts you have to find the answers by yourself and no wonder if each person will find different conclusions because after all we are different from each other. Or this is the greatest merit of this movie: makes you think about a lot of things among which why life is so hard when can be easier. Obviously this movie was a hard option for Nemescu but eventually because of this option it is his postmortem triumph. In the end, this movie is not an image of Balkans but an image which can be applied to 80% of this world. The feelings and emotions included in it can be applied to 100% of this world. It is tragic Nemescu died after his first movie, but it is fortunate he left as legacy such a movie rather than a regular "big hit".