Review: The Whistlers

Image courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

Corneliu Porumboiu's "The Whistlers" is the Romanian director's most accessible - and among his better - films. Incorporating the somewhat dour absurdist tone of his previous works - which include "Police, Adjective," "12:08 East of Bucharest" and "The Treasure" - and scenes that would feel at home in a Coen Brothers crime movie, "The Whistlers" is a mostly enjoyable, if at times slightly confusing, picture.

As the film opens, a disgraced cop named Cristi (Vlad Ivanov) who acts as a whistleblower for the mafia is roped into a scheme in which he ends up finding himself on both sides of the equation. On the one side is a beguiling woman named Gilda (Catrinel Marlon) and a series of Spanish criminals who are quick to draw bloodshed. On the other is Cristi's police captain, Magda (Rodica Lazar), who can be trusted as far as one could sling a piano.

But it's Cristi's mother who gets him into trouble after he gives her a bag full of money, which she hands over to her local priest, who is then contacted by the authorities, who are curious as to how Cristi came to obtain the loot. His apartment is bugged and his fellow police officers clearly don't trust him.

Meanwhile, the Spaniards are involved in a plot to bust a guy named Zsolt (Sabin Tambrea) out of jail because he knows the location of an even larger sum of money. But - and here's the film's central plot thread - the men communicate through the use of El Silbo, a Canary Islands language that involves a series of whistles that stand in for words.

As I'd mentioned, the picture occasionally has the feel of a Romanian Coen Brothers movie, especially when Cristi - who's not a natural to say the least - is being taught how to speak via whistle. At first, the whole concept is meant to be funny, but eventually the means of communication becomes second-hand, both to Cristi and the audience.

This is one of those types of films in which it's not always clear how a specific character is connected to another, who's double crossing who and even when specific scenes are taking place - for example, whether one conversation between people involved in the scheme is taking place exactly after the one you previously saw. Ultimately, it doesn't matter much. "The Whistlers" is an engaging, occasionally funny and even a little thrilling crime drama.

For those unfamiliar with Porumboiu's work, "The Whistlers" is more accessible than his earlier films, several of which are pretty good, but nearly all of which are more dense. It's a good starting point for the director's work.