LA GOMERA / THE WHISTLERS
Corneliu PORUMBOIU — ROMANIA, FRANCE, GERMANY — 97 minutes
IN A NUTSHELL
Cristi (Vlad Ivanov), is a corrupt Bucharest cop who has become involved in the drug-money-laundering setup he has been investigating. He has fallen under the suspicions of his superiors who have placed secret surveillance cameras in his apartment. Cristi’s problems get a whole lot more complicated when he becomes involved with Gilda (Catrinel Marlon), the girlfriend of drug dealer. (words by Bianca Garner)
CRITICAL RESPONSE
“Porumboiu’s brand of humour was never of the laugh-out-loud variety, but here only a few of the whistling scenes, as Cristi struggles to master the technique, raise a deadpan smile. Only in certain scenes do story and ideas really mesh – such as a fantastic sequence set amidst rugged Gomera mountains, where Cristi’s newly-acquired whistling skills are put to test in a triangular translation exercise, a sort of mountain-top spin on Chinese Whispers.” — Lee Marshall, Screen Daily
“The whole package is perfectly enjoyable but sometimes it feels maybe a touch too facile and too immersed in the old-school gender attitudes of classic noirs to pass without censure the hyper sensitive scrutiny of millennial viewers. (Is that sex scene really necessary?) The script may hum and buzz with twists and require concentration, but that’s not exactly the same as being intellectually satisfying and rich the way Porumboiu’s earlier work was. They were closer to profound; this is just clever.” — Leslie Felperin,The Hollywood Reporter
“The Whistlers is a departure, literally as well as figuratively, in that much of it is set outside Porumboiu’s native Romania, and the plot marches to the beat of the gangster noir, a genre that feels a little schematic and stifling for a director normally so beautifully uncategorizable. There’s a lot of fun to be had in the simple eccentricity of the premise, which is pulled back from silliness by the cast’s underplaying and Porumboiu’s natural inclination to tamp proceedings back into drollery. As a screwy plot device with so much potential, it feels curiously under-exploited here.” — Jessica Kiang, Variety
PRIZE PROSPECTS
The Romanian New Wave in cinema just keeps on coming back to the Cannes Film Festival. It is, of course, Cristian Mungiu who has had the biggest successes in the official selection – a Screenplay win, a Director prize, and the Palme d’Or. Fellow countryman, Corneliu Porumboiu, has also made a grand entrance at the festival, with his last three ventures – 12:08 East of Bucharest, Police, Adjective, The Treasure – all honored with a prize.
Cannes 2019 marks the in competition debut for Porumboiu. And with The Whistlers, the filmmaker delivers the hungry crowd with a character-driven crimefest, that has been praised for its snappy, plot-shaken script. And that is where I see this film winning a prize if it is to win anything at all. And that is some ‘if’. Look back at the Best Screenplay winners of recent years, you’ll find the jury tend to recognize, and reward, clever, eccentric writing. (words by Robin Write)
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