Tilt

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

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 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.

It took me a long time and some hard lessons to learn what I know about love, fate, and chasing redemption. Tilt story saw me beaten, loved, befriended, and chained on three continents. But it started with a simple choice, escape or die. Someone once told me that a dream is where a wish and fear meet. When the wish and the fear are the same, we call the dream a nightmare. Because I knew I could and because it would feel great. But mainly 'cause I knew I was right. That civilized people in large cities need places to gather and hunt. Officially, the law remains. It's just not enforced. Who gets to decide which laws get enforced and which ones don't? Someone once said the worst thing about corruption as a system of governance is that it works so well. Just amazing film with professional cast and crew, directing and writer.

TILT is not surprisingly the Bulgarian entry for the Oscars in 2012. The film is beautifully shot, the story intriguing depicting the changes in Bulgaria in the period 1989-1991 in a fresh, non-political manner, with outstanding acting performances.

As a European production the film has the distinctive characteristics of independent films, however, it is not annoyingly artsy. Moreover, the visual style is distinctively creative, which a novelty for Bulgarian cinema.

What I found especially noteworthy is the humor with all the serious issues of the story are presented, not diminishing their significance, moreover highlighting them that makes the film also very entertaining and pleasant to watch.

The main premise is a love story that that however does not make TILT suitable only for younger audiences. The years the film is set to depict are important for Bulgarian history and familiar to a number of generations.

Overall, I recommend TILT to various audiences that enjoy quality filmmaking.