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★★★★☆
27 February 2020
A movie review of THE WHISTLERS. |
D: Corneliu Porumboiu (POLICE, ADJECTIVE; 12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST).
S: Vlad Ivanov, Catrinel Marlon, Rodica Lazar, Agustí Villaronga, Julieta Szönyi, Sabin Tambrea, Antonio Buíl.
“How did you end up like this?” Mama (Julieta Szönyi)
When your own mother asks you such a question, likely something has gone wrong along the way. As THE WHISTLERS is from the writer-director of POLICE, ADJECTIVE [2009] and 12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST [2006], you know the answer is going to be layered. The lead’s lacklustre cop salary is an aside, to set up a wider societal interrogation by the audience.
S: Vlad Ivanov, Catrinel Marlon, Rodica Lazar, Agustí Villaronga, Julieta Szönyi, Sabin Tambrea, Antonio Buíl.
“How did you end up like this?” Mama (Julieta Szönyi)
When your own mother asks you such a question, likely something has gone wrong along the way. As THE WHISTLERS is from the writer-director of POLICE, ADJECTIVE [2009] and 12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST [2006], you know the answer is going to be layered. The lead’s lacklustre cop salary is an aside, to set up a wider societal interrogation by the audience.
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A crime thriller where the players utilise whistling. Not a movie synopsis one comes along very often. Everyone is a baddie. Lawbreakers and law enforcers. Crime. Corruption. A morality vacuum. A femme fatale. We have been delivered a bold and imaginative Eastern European modern noir.
On one of the Canary Islands, Gomera, a cryptic whistling language, “El Silbo”, has been perfected. A wordless articulation used to evade any eavesdropping authorities. Romanian police officer, Inspector Cristi (Vlad Ivanov), is sent by his mafia overlords to learn this underground form of communication. He has also been ordered to infiltrate said crime organisation by his prosecutor boss. Part of what pushes us to the edge of our seat is questioning whose side is the lead on. Beyond the double-cross, are we in the territory of a triple-cross? A quadruple-cross?!
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THE WHISTLERS shears the characters of warm-heartedness. Everyone is swirling around the metaphorical immoral toilet bowl. Who will get flushed? Audience members can debate, after the credits roll, if the film is too cynical or merely realistic.
Not unvarnished realism, the story is propulsive. The prize is 30 million Euros in cash. Of course, everyone wants it. The police surveils while the crims whistle. The technique might have been portrayed for laughs. Shards of humour arrive from elsewhere, like a film director location scouting, stumbling across a clandestine confab, and paying the ultimate price for his art. As with all the outlandish goings-on, the scene is underplayed, adding to the matter-of-fact believability. Jokes aside, the stakes are life and death.
THE WHISTLERS is a gripping exercise in the crime genre, which keeps you guessing until the final smile. Refreshing to have all the characters devoid of innocence and moral superiority.
