Filmed in two prisons in the Dominican Republic and cast with a number of real inmates, Woodpeckers is a taut drama about a thief named Julian (Jean Jean), incarcerated in a tough cellblock, who is enlisted by a menacing drug dealer to act as the latter's surrogate communicator with a female prisoner named Yanelly (Judith Rodriguez). The dialogue between Julian and Yanelly (who is in a separate facility) takes place through “woodpecking,” a type of sign language that confined men and women use to flirt from a distance. But trouble brews when Yanelly and Julian fall for one another, and the dealer's vendetta against Julian complicates a number of other already-challenged lives. Director José María Cabral captures the claustrophobic, every-man-for-himself society of prison life, which relies on deal-making and betrayal in order to function. Serving up a stark and lean narrative—benefiting from deep and passionate performances by Jean and Rodriguez—that leads to an explosive climax, this is recommended. (T. Keogh)
Woodpeckers
Strand</st1_place>, 108 min., in Spanish w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $24.99, Jan. 9 Volume 33, Issue 2
Woodpeckers
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