Something is off about Joe. He’s not excited about the baby. He watches Joanne as she sleeps. Late at night, he roams the streets of Los Angeles courting danger. As Joseph struggles to maintain his domestic life, his mask begins to slip.

In The Shining, we watch as author Jack Torrance struggles to write his new book and begin suffer a psychotic break that leads to abandoning his humanity and begins to terrorize his wife and young son. In the new film Tilt, documentary filmmaker Joseph Burns (Joseph Cross) also begins to experience his own psychotic break. The big difference, however, is that Tilt is a lot less interesting.

Burns and his wife, Joanne (Alexia Rasmussen) are going to have a baby, she’s going through medical school, and he’s working on his new film. Four years earlier, Burns had a minor success with his film (also called Tilt) about an international pinball tournament. Since then he has been unemployed while he works on the new film. Joanne is supportive but at the same time expresses concerns about their future financial situation with the baby on the way.

His new film is about how the “golden age” of the 1950s was really not the financial Garden of Eden he sees Presidential candidate Donald Trump campaign each night about a return to.  All of these things weighing on his mind lead him to begin taking long walks at night. Soon he also develops violent behavior toward people he comes across. At the same time, a detective leaves messages regarding a mysterious potential homicide that occurred at the Hawaiian hotel where Burns and his wife had recently spent time. This makes us question how far back this change actually began.

Ultimately it just doesn’t feel like very much happens in Tilt. Burns change is slow and quiet. He seems like he just isn’t interested in having a baby and comes across as a bit of baby himself who thinks he should be able to spend his time making his documentaries without needing to worry about making money. There is nothing sympathetic about him and really, he is the least interest character in the film. The political aspects of the movie feel shoehorned in. These moments come across as something of far more interest to the actual filmmakers than Burns.

Oddly for a film I found to be a bit boring, it oddly must have moved along a pretty good pace.  Before I knew it was almost over. Then again, maybe I just fell asleep and didn’t realize it.