Rent The Whistlers (2019)

Annoyingly pointless - The Whistlers review by Alphaville

The film begins with an intriguing plot that is subtly developed… until you realise that it’s going nowhere. The more you watch the more you’ll want to put your foot through the screen for letting it waste your time. It’s billed as a comedy thriller but there are no thrills and no laughs. Disconnected scenes promise a set-piece climax but the eventual shootout is both brief and dismal. The trailer tries to add zest to proceedings by adding an exciting score, but the film plays out to no score except an intermittent opera.

Why is it called The Whistlers? Because a group of poorly-characterised thieves can talk to each other without the police knowing by using the La Gomera whistling language. It’s a neat selling point, except for the fact that they never have to use it! Maybe that’s a comment on the pointlessness of the whole exercise. Slow, deliberately paced and staidly directed in Romania, this is the kind of film that sounds interesting enough to watch only to leave a bad taste in the mouth for having duped you into sitting through it. If only film festivals would stop championing this kind of arthouse bore. The two stars are only for glimpses of the beautiful La Gomera scenery. A documentary on that would have been more interesting.

Dull - The Whistlers review by IG

Gets off to a reasonable and promising start but then meanders through a rather formulaic route to a dull ending, passes the time but that is about it.

A Surprisingly Good Suspense Thriller - The Whistlers review by GI

A noir styled suspense thriller that has a rather nifty plot and does keep you hooked. Just as you think it might all be a bit clichéd the film surprises you. The story centres around a large cache of missing drug money coveted by the gangsters who consider it theirs, a beautiful girl and some corrupt cops. One of these Cristi (Vlad Ivanov) works for the gangsters but is suspected by his boss Magda (Rodica Lazar) who has him under surveillance. She also has plans to steal the money for herself but the key to finding it is one of the gang who is in jail. Cristi is recruited by Gilda (Catrinel Marlon) to plan a jailbreak and the gang use a whistling language to communicate and throw off the police. But Gilda has her own plans. It's all a story of corruption, disloyalty, greed and lust. Gilda is not named as such for nothing!! There's some good set pieces and at least one very shocking act of violence. This is actually an entertaining film that keeps you watching so it's well worth checking out.