The Whistlers (2019)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Whistlers (2019) – C. Porumboiu

Although some have levelled charges against Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu, suggesting that this film represents something of a sell-out, there’s still no denying that it is a witty take on the usual cat-and-mouse police-and-thieves thriller.  For one thing, the hero Cristi (Vlad Ivanov) is a paunchy middle-aged cop, hardly your typical lead, and we don’t know where his allegiance lies – is he corrupt or is he deep undercover? In order to communicate with the gang, he flies to the Canary Islands (specifically La Gomera) to learn a secret whistling language that no one else will understand. The island scenes provide a sunny contrast to the flashback (and flashforward) scenes back in grey and glum Bucharest. Of course, there are many double-crosses – at the start, we see Cristi being solicited by Gilda (a femme fatale name if ever there was one; Catriona Marlon) to help get her boyfriend Zsolt out of prison. Only later do we learn that he was framed and also that they had planned to betray Cristi and the boss Paco and escape with the money (hidden in mattresses).  None of this gives away too much of what is a non-linear plot that is only teasingly drip-fed (in named chapters) to viewers by Porumboiu.  The directorial choices bring a lot of sly chuckles, as they are often intentionally quirky or wrong. There are some great set-pieces here too and some clever shots – plus, the whistling itself is so weird. In the end, the film seems to tie up nicely with a bow on it, perhaps too cleverly for its own good and without much to say, but it’s a delightful genre exercise by a talented filmmaker (see also Police, Adjective, 2009, a more original take on the police procedural).