Monday 9 January 2012

If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle (2010) @ Eu Când Vreau Să Fluier, Fluier


At a glance:
Originally a theatre play, this is a Romanian drama set in a borstal, starrin mostly non-pros and rookies to achieve that documentary feel. First time actor George Piştereanu (pic) plays Silviu, an incarcerated youth with a few days left to his sentence, who discovers that his estranged whore of a mother has returned and is now tryin to take his little brother away. He tries to figure out how to stop this, while befriendin a sympathetic female social worker (Ada Condeescu).
Bad news on the doorstep:
Overrated and lethargic, over 20 stagnant shades of hand-held grey. Florin Şerban sure got a lot of backin for this, didn't he? I mean, he had access to real cons and yet managed only several scenes of prison horseplay. Nothin insightful here. Wasted opportunity. One cannot feel the desperation of its characters. Even the premises were borin.
Florin Şerban
Perennial wonderment:
Can we get more upliftin stuff out of the old Communist bloc?
Reminds me of:
The greyness of Lilja 4-Ever (2002) but that was a good film.
Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?
I watched this on the strength of its fierce title but I can't say this was very good at all. Plenty of potential here but the intensity and climax is compromised by its decidedly experimental execution. Simply not compellin enough.