Stylish Bulgarian Effort TILT Is On The Level

In many ways the state of live action film making in Bulgaria is the same as the state of animation in South Korea: It's where America goes to get stuff done cheap. Despite plentiful crews and resources, a bustling industry produced little that the locals can actually identify as their own. Which is a part of why efforts like The Chouchkov Brothers' Tilt stand out. It's local and proudly so.

The other reason it stands out is that it looks very, very good. Those two things together combined to launch the film atop the Bulgarian box office.

TILT is a love story dynamically told in the style of adventure drama. The name comes from playing the game of pin-ball and means a complete blockage. The main character Stash (Yavor Baharoff) together with three of his friends dream of opening their own bar with pin-ball machines, pool tables and cool music. An accidental meeting with Becky (Radina Kardjilova) grows into a dangerous romance, which puts the characters in a real-life TILT situation.

Blending style and grit the film begins as a coming of age drama set in the waning years of communism before taking a darker, more action oriented turn. I wish the trailer existed in subtitled form but there's plenty to like in it just as it is. Take a look below.