Unpredictable, rushing, constantly changing the genre disguises of "La Gomera" keys and confuses the script's leads, like an exceptionally clever fugitive. Criminal comedy directed by Corneliu Porumboiu surprises with ingenuity, amuses with absurd humor, and above all proves that anyone who takes himself deadly seriously is simply ridiculous.

The master of the Romanian New Wave takes us on vacation with seriousness, and not just anywhere, because to Gomera, one of the Canary Islands. This is where a corrupt, gloomy Bucharest cop (Vlad Ivanov) comes to learn the secret local whistling language, el silbo. Thanks to him, Cristi can get along with the mafia and plan a kidnapping, whistling at police wiretaps. The Romanian's teachers are the local gangster and the mysterious, dark-haired femme fatale (Catrinel Marlon), which could not be missing in the story masterfully seasoning a mixture of crime fiction, comedy, heist movie and western with a handful of brilliant references to film noir. Besides, it is the women who pull the strings of this unusual story about policemen and thieves.

"La Gomera" cleverly builds a comedy about a cynical policeman entangled in a double (or only?) Game, using numerous references to it. And at the same time associated with the "Ocean's" series, daringly juggling with quotes from masterpieces by Hitchcock, Hawks and Ford; referring to "Gilda" with Rita Hayworth, but also to the famous paintings by Edward Hopper; Porumboiu's film praises its own language. One who can tell about the world without resorting to clichés, and where humor reveals the blown gravity of all structures and institutions - whether it be the mafia attached to rituals, the police dependent on bureaucracy, or blindly duplicating Hollywood's genre commandments.

text: Gutek Film