The Whistlers (film)

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The Whistlers
Film poster
Directed byCorneliu Porumboiu
Written byCorneliu Porumboiu
Produced byMarcela Ursu
StarringVlad Ivanov
Catrinel Menghia
CinematographyTudor Mircea
Edited byRoxana Szel
Production
companies
42 Km Film
Komplizen Film
Les Films du Worso
mk2
Release dates
  • 18 May 2019 (2019-05-18) (Cannes)
  • 13 September 2019 (2019-09-13) (Romania)
Running time
97 minutes
CountriesRomania
France
Germany
LanguagesRomanian
English
El Silbo
Spanish
Box office$808,743[1]

The Whistlers (Spanish: La Gomera) is a 2019 Romanian crime thriller film directed by Corneliu Porumboiu and starring Vlad Ivanov. It premiered in competition at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.[2][3][4][5] It was selected as the Romanian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.[6][7]

Plot[edit]

Zsolt, a corrupt businessman in Bucharest in league with Spanish gangsters, has been smuggling drug money out of the country in mattresses. Among those on his payroll are his mistress, the glamorous Gilda, and Cristi, a police inspector whose payoffs are left in his mother's cellar. When Zsolt is arrested, the Spaniards concoct a plot to free both him and the latest mattressfuls of cash. Cristi will be seduced by Gilda and taken to the Spanish island of La Gomera to learn El Silbo, the native whistling language. Back in Bucharest, he will then poison Zsolt, who will be rushed to hospital under guard. Once Cristi has ascertained the room number, he will whistle it to Gilda outside and the Spaniards will then rescue Zsolt. Many things go wrong and most characters get killed while Cristi, badly injured, ends up in hospital. Gilda finds out the room number and whistles to him to join her at a hotel in Singapore.

(The eight chapters of the film are not chronological, and the real-time sequence is: 1. Zsolt 2. Mama 3. Gilda 4. Kiko 5. Sylbo language 6. Paco 7. Magda 8. Cristi.)[8]

Cast[edit]

Production[edit]

The film was produced through the director's company 42 km Film in collaboration with France's Les Films du Worso and Germany's Komplizen Film, with mk2 handling the distribution sales.[2][9] Shooting took place in Romania and the Canary Islands.[10]

Release[edit]

The film competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.[11] In May 2019, the film's UK distribution rights were sold to Curzon Artificial Eye,[12] and the US rights sold to Magnolia Pictures.[13]

Reception[edit]

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 83% based on 114 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Whistlers finds writer-director Corneliu Porumboiu working in a more crowd-pleasing vein than previous efforts, with thoroughly entertaining results."[14] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 77 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[15] Reporting from the Cannes Film Festival, Jessica Kiang of Variety wrote that the film "is an enjoyable affair with just enough of a slant to feel a little offbeat", but might leave fans of Porumboiu's previous films disappointed.[16] New York Times's A.O. Scott wrote that while the film is "an ingeniously structured, engaging and witty display of filmmaking skill," it "is Porumboiu’s most elaborate feature and in some ways his least ambitious".[17]

Accolades[edit]

Award Year Category Recipient Result Ref(s)
Saturn Awards 2021 Best International Film The Whistlers Nominated [18]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "The Whistlers (2019)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  2. ^ a b Goodfellow, Melanie (17 May 2017). "mk2 boards new Corneliu Porumboiu project 'Gomera'". Screendaily. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  3. ^ "The 2019 Official Selection". Cannes Film Festival. 18 April 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  4. ^ Sharf, Zack (18 April 2019). "2019 Cannes Film Festival Lineup: Terrence Malick, Xavier Dolan, Almodóvar Compete for Palme d'Or". IndieWire. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  5. ^ "The Screenings Guide 2019". Cannes Film Festival. 9 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  6. ^ ""La Gomera", în regia lui Corneliu Porumboiu, propunerea României pentru Oscar 2020". Libertatea. 26 August 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  7. ^ Barraclough, Leo (26 August 2019). "Oscars: Corneliu Porumboiu's 'The Whistlers' Entered in International Feature Film Race". Variety. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  8. ^ "Director Corneliu Porumboiu shoots new film in Romania, Spain". Romania Insider. 7 March 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  9. ^ Dobroiu, Ștefan (6 March 2018). "Corneliu Porumboiu shooting Gomera". Cineuropa. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  10. ^ "Romanian film director Corneliu Porumboiu shoots for "Gomera" in Spain". The Romania Journal. 20 April 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  11. ^ "Cannes festival 2019: full list of films". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  12. ^ Grater, Tom (2 May 2019). "Cannes Competition pair 'Portrait Of A Lady On Fire', 'The Whistlers' land at UK's Curzon (exclusive)". Screen International. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  13. ^ McNary, Dave (24 May 2019). "Romanian Crime-Thriller 'The Whistlers' Bought for North America". Variety. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  14. ^ "The Whistlers (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. 28 February 2020. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  15. ^ "The Whistlers Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  16. ^ Kiang, Jessica (18 May 2019). "Film Review: 'The Whistlers'". Variety. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  17. ^ Scott, A.O. (26 February 2020). "'The Whistlers' Review: From Bucharest With Ambivalence". New York Times. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  18. ^ Hipes, Patrick (4 March 2021). "Saturn Awards Nominations: 'Star Wars: Rise Of Skywalker', 'Tenet', 'Walking Dead', 'Outlander' Lead List". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 5 March 2021.

External links[edit]

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