CALIFORNIA DREAMIN' (2009) (A-minus) - This Romanian film tells a shambling tale, based on a true story, of a group of U.S. Marines getting stuck in a small town while chaperoning a load of weapons headed to support a NATO mission in Bosnia. Like a good Coen brothers film, it celebrates quirk and carves out some memorable characters.
Former action star Armand Assante plays it cool here as the captain of the crew who must haggle with the local mayor and the station manager who stopped the train and won't let it proceed. The station manager is used to getting a cut of merchandise that gets pirated as it passes through, but in this instance, it seems he's just being difficult.
That man is Doiaru (above), played to world-weary perfection by Razvan Vasilescu. Besides a persistent case of allergies, he is also dealing with his restless teenage daughter, Monica (Maria Dinulescu), who has broken up with her boyfriend and takes a liking to one of the Marines, though neither can speak a word of the other's language, so she recruits a classmate who harbors a secret crush on her to help translate during their dates.
In the few days that pass, nothing significant transpires, and Capt. Jones and his crew get a chance to relax and partake in some local customs, including a large open-air banquet featuring an Elvis cover band. The mix of bored, yearning local girls with under-occupied Marines leads to a good deal of carousing. Eventually Capt. Jones and Doiarau engage in a casual summit, and hope emerges for an end to the standoff.
Director Cristian Nemescu -- who died in a car crash during post production of this, his only full-length feature film -- shows a sure hand in juggling the storylines and deepening the humanity of his characters. His style exhibits hints of Iron Curtain masters like Krzystof Kieslowski and Emir Kusturica. His legacy is this charming, delightful minor-key slice of life.
BONUS TRACK
The original Mamas and Papas title track plays over the closing credits. Here is the more melancholy version, by Jose Feliciano live in East Berlin in the 1980s:
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