A young man believes his random encounter with a pedestrian is more sinister than it seems in Miroslav Petkov’s psychological thriller, the short film Paranoia.
This is the second film directed by Miroslav Petkov that we have reviewed in six months and compared to his earlier effort ‘Drums’, which we gave a 2 ½ star review to in April, Paranoia is a definite improvement. Petkov is a Bulgarian director working in Bulgaria itself, and is a relatively new filmmaker in the burgeoning Bulgarian film industry. Paranoia is Petkov’s attempt at a straightforward Hollywood thriller but he puts his own stamp on it by adding a well-worn science fiction trope to his story. Pre-crime.
Zahari Turmanov plays Ivo who we meet coming home after a busy day. He falls asleep in his bed only to be awoken by a troubling nightmare in which he sees a murder, or what he thinks is a murder, taking place. He confides in his friend Kate who tells him to take a walk in the park so he can clear his head, and it is during this walk that Ivo bumps into a stranger he is certain is the same man he saw in his dreams committing the crime. What follows is a slow descent into paranoia and obsession that sees Ivo risking his life trying to prove that what he saw in his dreams was in fact true. With elements of both The Conversation and Minority Report dotted throughout the short film’s 19-minute run time, Paranoia is an interesting piece.
Things don’t start out too promising though, with Paranoia’s opening two minutes showing us Ivo walking home, opening doors, coming through doors, and climbing up stairs to reach his bedroom. It’s a pretty static and basic opening salvo that doesn’t grip the viewer in any way and could quite easily be cut. Petkov could make his opening scene stronger by simply starting with the nightmare. It’s when Ivo starts to become unhinged that the film develops into something much more interesting.
Turmanov’s portrayal of Ivo sees him use subtle expressions, nervous gestures, and a reserved demeanour to show his character’s isolation and inner conflict. This helps bring out Ivo’s anxiety about his dream while punctuating it with big emotional displays. Petkov’s directing style enhances Turmanov’s performance by using tight, confined spaces and framing him to echo Ivo’s sense of being trapped by his obsession. The film’s cinematography and sound design adds to this feeling with cold, muted colours and as Ivo’s paranoia increases, the camera focuses on tight close-ups of his face mirroring his growing obsession, and the camera work becomes a lot more erratic. There is also a well-choreographed fight scene towards the end that really helps to push the story forward.
If I do have some issues they are all mainly technical as there doesn’t seem to have been any grading or colouring done to the film which leaves the finished product looking more like a TV soap opera than a movie; but as long as you can get past that there is definitely something to enjoy here. Today, the Bulgarian film industry is marked by a growing wave of young directors and producers eager to tell uniquely Bulgarian stories while embracing universal themes, signaling a bright future for the country. Judging by Paranoia, Petkov will certainly be one of the directors involved in putting Bulgaria back on the movie-making map.
Leave a Reply