I saw one critic reference Taxi Driver in his review of Tilt, and while I see some slight resemblance there, there were more moments in this film that reminded me of Falling Down, a '90s movie in which a man, played by Michael Douglas, has lost his job as an engineer and is on a downward spiral toward irrational violence and self-destruction.
In this movie, the protagonist, Joseph Burns, a thirty-something indie documentary-maker who experienced marginal success with his previous film, is currently jobless to make time to work on his next film, which seems to be on the same path of mediocrity as the first. The only problem is his wife, Joanne, who is in medical school and working/studying almost constantly, is pregnant. Joseph is provided an opportunity to work full-time as an assistant editor, and at first he rejects the opportunity. But when Joanne angrily pleads with him to stick to the agreement they had, that he would work once she was in medical school, he agrees to interview for the job.
In the meantime, Joseph apparently has been on a secret road to insanity since (at least) the couple's vacation in Hawaii. Obsessed with economic stratification (the topic of his documentary-in-progress), he becomes increasingly interested in the idea of lording power over those perceived as weak (a homeless man, a stray dog). It's ironic and interesting, as it was in Falling Down, or even in the satirical movie, American Psycho. What's missing in this movie is ... well, anything resembling a reason for us to sympathize with Joseph.
In Falling Down, we sympathize with the protagonist because those of us who have experienced the terror of having no income, no financial security, understand how it can fray the ends of sanity in the worst moments. Even in American Psycho, though we don't exactly sympathize with the protagonist, we laugh at him--we're meant to laugh at him because he's ridiculous and absurd.
In Tilt, Joseph and Joanne, a couple of Millennials, live in a lovely little house with a backyard and a separate workspace next door where Joseph can play with his little movie-making gadgets. They eat health-food, which they don't appear to struggle paying for. At the start of the movie, they are just returning from a vacation in Hawaii. Joseph has the ability to get a good job with benefits, but he thinks having a job merely to pay the rent is degrading to him as an artist. He despises those more financially privileged than he is. In fact, in one scene in roughly the middle of the movie, he subtly threatens a rich, older tourist, who drives an expensive convertible, at a scenic overlook.. He hates the rich and wants to eat the poor. What in the world is it that Joseph stands for, anyway?
Perhaps the problem is that Joseph is not merely an individual character but a representation of a cultural phenomenon--a generation of people, now coming into middle-age, who were raised to believe that in adulthood they would be independently wealthy, perpetually vacationing in Bora Bora. Joanne's friend Kendra calls him out: "Welcome to adulthood," she says. Indeed, Kendra, indeed.
Ultimately, Tilt is lost somewhere between what I believe the writers meant to achieve and the sheer, self-pitying emptiness of their protagonist's psychological struggles. My psychological struggles watching this movie were in believing Joseph, the ineffectual but socially well-adjusted geek, as a foreboding predator capable of horrific acts. Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver) goes violently insane because he's socially awkward and anachronistic in a time of cultural revolution. Joseph Burns goes violently insane because he doesn't want to work to pay the bills, because having a comfortable home, a good job, and a loving family is below him, apparently.
