La Gomera (The Whistlers)

THE WHISTLERS - MK2

Corneliu Porumboiu's The Whistlers is, for the most part, a decent attempt at representing the crime genre through a gripping and distinctive palette. Unfortunately, Porumboiu's film cannot firmly stand out from the crowd, nor elevate its genre conventions with success.

The distinctive element of The Whistlers is the use of the titular method in communicating subtext within the gangster world. That said, the aspect — as intriguing as it may be — is incredibly surface level, and gone before it even begins, which comes across more gimmicky than influential or impressive. 

This is also true for the plot, which follows a non-cyclical narrative. Porumboiu's film begins with great enigmatic potential, but soon devours itself in unneeded convoluted storytelling; the audience is lost, rather than wrapped in a bubbling intensifying mystery. Cutting back and forth between time frames does little to craft the intended intrigue, and before long, it becomes unintentionally disbarring to see who is on each side. 

As much as the plot becomes slowly and irreversibly hard to follow, the film provides two strong performances from lead actors Vlad Ivanov and Catrinel Marlon as Christi and Gilda, respectively. Ivanov puts forward a cold, stoic and deadpan performance that works in the area of distancing the character from predictability. Not evoking emotion — though intrinsic to the nature of the role — renders the character difficult to root for, and makes it hard to invest in an emotional connection.

Thankfully, Catrinel Marlon puts forward a fascinating, and wonderfully coy performance as enigmatic Gilda, who grapples with loyalty, while striving to achieve her own goals towards gaining a new life. The draining psychological torment of her position, in this puzzling thriller, is one that keeps the hectic and tense atmosphere at a fairly engaging level. That said, Marlon can only partially hold the weight of this feature on her shoulders solely, for a prolonged amount of time. Before long, without her screen presence, it becomes clear that The Whistlers is sadly another conventional thriller, which fails to maximise and evolve its strengths, leading to a run of the mill feature that had so much more to give.