If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle

This simple but feisty Romanian film from director Florin Serban is a one-trick pony of sorts, but the focal point—talented actor George Pistereanu—offers reason enough to stick with this raw and raucous youth-prison film until the end. Pistereanu stars as Silviu, a troubled but oddly principled young man coming to the end of a four-year sentence in a tough Romanian juvenile detention center. During the last few days of his confinement, trouble begins to brew for Silviu, who up until this point has seemed mild mannered and quiet, if also somewhat mysterious. When Silviu finds out about his mother's plans to take his little brother to Italy with her—leaving him to fend for himself—the uglier side of Silviu's personality emerges, as his boyishly shy exterior gives way to bursts of violent rage. After a tense and unsettling meeting with his mom and sibling, Silviu begins to psychologically unravel—his outbursts soon degenerating into senseless violence. While Silviu winds up being an interesting character study, he's far from the sympathetic victim of a cruel society that he initially seems to be. Recommended. (M. Sandlin)