Film Reviews

Romanian director Cristian Nemescu's comedy California Dreamin' (aka Nesfarsit, 2007) unfolds against the backdrop of the Kosovo War, circa 1999. A NATO train rolls through a Romanian hamlet, transporting a plethora of weapons across the country -- without official documents, and equipped only with the verbal consent of the Romanian authorities. The transport thus grows intensely vulnerable.

An ancient pestilence called The Scourge has been set free in a small town after being entombed in a church's masonry for a century and a half. As bodies rapidly pile up, nothing stands between the spawning Scourge and the rest of the town except our young heroes Scott and Jessie who rediscover their love for each other in the process

At a Catholic public school, Benjamin Stanfield is tired of being the teacher's pet and decides to play a practical joke on his form master Father Goddard. In confession, Stanfield tells Goddard that he has accidentally murdered his friend Blakey and buried him in the forest. When Goddard investigates the matter, he finds a buried scarecrow. Goddard is outraged, but, due to the seal of confession, he knows he cannot expel Stanfield. Shortly after, Stanfield once again enters the confession booth, telling Goddard that what before was a practical joke, he has now made happen. In disbelief, Goddard once again goes to the forest to investigate the matter. This time, he discovers Blakey's dead body. The plot soon thickens as Stanfield's fellow student Arthur Dyson mysteriously disappears...

Aditya (Vivek Oberoi), a young middle class boy, meets Suhani (Rani Mukerji), a medical student and falls head over heels for her. He pursues her relentlessly in the local trains of Mumbai. Suhani, brushes off Aditya's overtures, because she wants to become a successful doctor and do her parents proud. However, Aditya's persistence pays off and she finally accepts. But opposition from her parents forces the couple to part ways. The separation is unbearable and they get married in secret. Once they are married, is where the real story begins. The bliss ends and reality sets in with misunderstandings and quarrels in tow. Where do the newlyweds go from here? Will Aditya and Suhani understand the true meaning of being a "Saathiya"?

I may be provincial and old-fashioned. I may believe in a lot of dead things like patriotism and the Constitution, and I like apple pie, because that's the dumb way I was brought up, and that's the dumb way I feel!

A director and his crew attempt to make the transition from the small to the big screen.