Play like a pro with expert knowledge from a champion of the game

If you don't know the ins and outs of play, bridge can seem like an intimidating game--but it doesn't have to be! Armed with the techniques and strategies in the pages of this book, you'll be bidding and winning hands like a boss! A good book for beginners, it has lots of advanced techniques useful to experienced players, too. This is as  close to an all-in-one bridge book you can get.

 

 

About the Author

H. Anthony Medley holds the rank of Silver life Master, is an American Contract Bridge League Club Director, and has won regional and sectional titles. An attorney, he received his B.S. from UCLA, where he was sports editor of UCLA's Daily Bruin, and his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. He is the author of UCLA Basketball: The Real Story and Sweaty Palms: The Neglected Art of Being Interviewed and The Complete Idiots Guide to Bridge. He was a columnist for the Southern California Bridge News. He is an MPAA-certified film critic and his work has appeared nationally in Good Housekeeping, The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, and other publications. Click the book to order.
 

  

 

The Whistlers (6/10)

by Tony Medley

97 minutes

NR when reviewed but I would rate it R.

Not to be confused with the 1940s-era radio show, this is a convoluted thriller that keeps you guessing throughout. Written and directed by Corneliu Porumboiu at the expense of being trite, things are not as they appear. Cristi (Vlad Ivanov) is a Romanian policeman who is also working for the mafia.

As a result his position is ambiguous and intricate. He is sent to La Gomera Island to learn an ancestral whistling language with the idea that it will allow him easy communication with his evil bosses on the other side of the law. They want to get one of their own, Zsolt (Sabin Tambrea), out of prison. Zsolt apparently knows where several million dollars in cash is hidden and everyone wants it.

Delicately balancing between different sides of the law, He teams up with the seductive Gilda (Catrinel Marlon) to get the money for themselves. Because they will have to traverse the spirals of dishonesty, deceit and trickery they somehow figure that the trip to the Canary Islands to learn the secret whistling language is their chance to pull it off. There actually is a whistled language called El Silbo, practiced on the island of La Gomera. But things get more complicated and nothing goes according to plan.

Director Porumboiu's idea was to make this kind of a noir-like movie of strong women manipulating weaker men. Joining Gilda is Cristi’s boss, Magda (Rodica Lazar) who Porumboiu viewed as Marlene Dietrich-lite. Porumboiu says, “The women are pulling the strings to move the story forward. Here, we understand that he is being carried along by the women. In the end, Cristi’s decisions are not his choices!”

It’s advertised as “comedy/crime,” but I didn’t see much comedy. If it's noir, it's minor league noir, maybe Triple A. The whistling gimmick isn't very believable and diminishes what could have been a good story. In Romanian, English, and Spanish.

 

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