TILT - Das Spiel ist aus, wenn Du aufgibst

I was led to believe that the last few years have marked a new beginning for the Bulgarian cinema since a series of TV shows and movies have been produced and the media mainstreamed the improved acting and directing. Being disappointed of what i saw during the last 10 years I respectfully decided to give this one a chance.

On the plus side I have to admit that acting have improved, but just a very tiny step forward has been made. The performance of Baharov and Georgi Staykov were satisfactory. There are a few funny moments as well - especially the poor German translation from one of the house mates in the house in Germany. As far as I can recall this ends the advantages.

The main flaw of this movie is the clear continuation of a script lacking any challenge for the viewer, which is the main issue of the last 20 years. Too simple, predictable, boring script, lacking twists and meaningless dialogues. In my view however the successive exploitation of the political transition period in the Bulgarian post- communist film making era is the major problem- we have had enough of this. Either they are still trying to create the Bulgarian Goodbye Lenin (far far away to get there with this one) or the directors cant figure out a relevant plot. The thing is that people are fed up with this topic and they want to see something more up to date and less politically soaked. Less depressing and a little bit brighter settings could also make a difference.

That is why I can say that there has been a slow movement from the disasters produced during the last 20 years in terms of acting but the main problems still exist. As much as I want to say it this could not be an Oscar 2012 even close to a nomination. In a nutshell improved acting, bad direction and a crappy story.

I saw this product (i can't dignify it to name this a movie) with a big delay,almost decade after, and it is frustrating to find that it look exactly like all other Bulgarian BS that happened lately. as a norm period movies should look even better after ten more years, it means, if they shoot 1989-1991 period in 2010, there will be some imperfection depicting the previous epoch, so, when you get the seen after ten more years, the 90's should look little bit more real, supposing we add this 10 years on the account of historicity. So...I don't find relevant to talk about this thing here, just wanted to intervene on something else. much more abstract. This almost structural deadlock this feature that almost in every Bulgarian cinematic attempt that intent to be taken as a movie we got this constant female characters to be involved in dancing. It as a symptom for the immature stage of the idea in our art. Because we are not able to deal with cinematic movement in the plot we put some body in this simplifying motion, lacking every tension in the narrative to be aufgehoben on the level of the bodily expression, that instead to be involved in some dynamics accomplished through usual cinematic features-genre (action, film noir, suspense), movement of the camera, etc , the lack of such consciousness appears on this strange depiction of the female characters, to be made dancers.I will not mention here every Bulgarian "films'from last few years where we got female dancing, but this feature is almost omnipresent.

I saw TILT last night and undoubtedly this is a good Bulgarian movie with a story line (which is hard to find in other BG movies) and acting that is more good than bad. Actually the young actors that have not appeared in theaters have not been ""corrupted"" by theater directors, so they play satisfactorily well in the movie.

The film shows the transformation in Bulgarian (and Eastern European) society after 1989, focusing on the young people''s state of mind, susceptibilities, hopes and dreams, thus pointing to what one can expect the future Bulgarian society to be. Young and fragile boys, easily manipulative by the more insolent ones, fall victim to the rising mafia, a social stratum that rose from the military circles and still dominates the public domain of Bulgaria today.

There is of course a love story going on, which develops despite the girl''s tyrannic father, who is a symbol of the powerful of the day, the remnants of the past, all shaping the future of a couple strongly in love. The two lovers act well, although the love story between them could be developed a little more, I felt like I wanted to see more of it and wanted to know the girl better.

Anyway, I think the movie is beautifully shot, showing the misery of the country but in a nice way, not self-pitying or anything (which is common for other BG movies). I liked it that the movie makes you laugh at many points (the humor is relevant for Bulgarians) and the audience did indeed laugh a lot. At the end some people even clapped their hands :)

I give it 6 out of 10, rating it as an entry in IMDb, not as a Bulgarian movie. If I had to rate it compared to other Bulgarian movies, I would probably give it 9/10

As a coincidence I was at the age of the those guys on 1989 when the regime change happened in Bulgaria. I am sorry but my own life and the lives of many of my friends were much more interesting and dramatic than this movie characters'.

Starting from the title - Tilt has the usual Bulgarian movie title of at least 3rd 4th level of abstraction.

Boring story, so straightforward, nothing original. The love story shown within 2 minutes in sooo cliché-way succeeded with that typical sex scene in the locker room. Hey, we've seen love stories and sex scenes. This was far weak to be a basis for the rest of the movie.

Dialogs are so difficult to hear and understand and this not because of some original language, it is because of the majority of the actors just cannot act. The main character is boring, his mates are boring, the girl is boring. I remembered none of the names of the characters.

And they must be kidding by proposing this as a nominee for Oscar awards.

I didn't expect much and that's why I'm neither disappointed ,neither fascinated. We all know that the situation in 1989 was not pink. We all know a lot of stories, a lot of movies have been made about the so called"transition".And yet again the same story.I'm tired of watching the same story again and again. The forbidden love and the s****y communistic rules. The actors are new, they are fresh and may be they made me like the movie a little bit more that the others. So as a final: Not bad movie , could've been much better, but ... we can't change it now . It is not total crap , it is not an Oscar winning movie.