Les siffleurs

... 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.

This is a good Romanian police and double-agent thriller shot in Spain, with a non-linear cut segments of events, very curious whistling language element and a very impressive femme-fatale performance of Catrinel Marlon in the role of Gilda.

I was fascinated with the whistling communication from old times and the whole web of gangsters involved into it, maybe not very spectacular action but entertaining for sure.

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.

Cristi is a middle aged undercover police officer with mommy issues who is trying to find the location of some stolen money. So he goes to a remote island to learn a whistling language that will allow him to communicate with the criminals from a distance. There he rekindles a relationship with his old flame and his priorities change. As both the criminals and his colleagues are onto Cristi what choices will he make to come out clean of his predicament? A clever game of cops and robbers ensues.

Summing up this multi layered, not always coherent plot, is not an easy task. THE WHISTLERS takes a long time to get going but it's many elements come together building up to something special. Heavy on movie references it is heavily inspired by Tarantino movies, although the style of the cinematography is rather dull.

The script on paper must look great, but this is the case where a writer should let go of his work and let someone else direct. Cornelliu Porumboiu helmed 13 films but seems to be still searching for his directing style. While all the cast do their job well, the motives of their characters for the majority of the film are obscure to say the least.

But if this is the originality you are looking for THE WHISTLERS is for you. With good timing and a genuine sense of wit it is a rewarding experience for those who will stick with it until the end.