La Gomera

The promotion of this movie as a comedy really does it a disservice. In reality, it's very twisty, complex neo-noir, which is fine. I was attracted to the film partly because I had heard it was funny, but it isn't (although there is a little bit of wry/cynical humor). Misrepresenting a movie's genre sets it up to fail with viewers, who go in expecting something different.

If you do like neo-noir crime dramas with a lot of references to past classic films (both Romanian and American), this is definitely one to check out. It has a great soundtrack as well.

Very neat film with consistent tone, not too fast not too slow, it exploits its resources very well. There are not too many locations and all of them are very well chosen and filmed, mostly the remore island of La Gomera and Bucharest. Scenes never drag, there's very neat dialogue as well. It does a lot with just enough, the main character is a man of few words but everything is understood and I rooted for him. Very elegant film, if anything a bit too orderly, meeting all the requirements of the genre as a well-applied applicant. It joins the trend of narrative in closed chapters and it works great, again, very elegant and orderly. The lead female is an absolute beauty, as should be the case in any self-respecting neo-noir. And there's the whistling thing which is awesome, that alone gives something special to the story, a pretty cool touch, yearning like a fairy tale, or maybe more like an opera.

Good stuff, perfect gem of a movie, ideal for an evening when you don't know what movie you want to watch.

... but with lashings of skulduggery, this enjoyable and original noirish escapade mixes Spanish villains with corrupt Romanian detectives via a cryptic whistle to cover their tracks.

It's actually a co-production, but mostly Romanian. I could say is the first Romanian film made intelligently, for international distribution. Of course, it's not a masterpiece, by far, but, compared to the previous level of Romanian films, it's a great qualitative leap. Vlad Ivanov, the lead, is almost an expressionless actor. I can't say the same about Catrinel Marlon, she is very expressive, dressed and undressed. Talented and very beautiful, a face reminiscent of Penelope Cruz and Nastassja Kinski, Catrinel Marlon I hope she'll become a great actress. Very convincing Rodica Lazar in the role of the very annoying prosecutor. The rest of the cast is good, the movie is worth to be seen. Porumboiu surpasses himself from one film to another. I wish him to keep it that way, higher and higher.

There is not much choice nowadays, mostly movies are propaganda, so I enjoyed this piece of movie art. Quite unique style, slowly developing and realistically looking characters.