Maria Bakalova, Ivan Barnev, and Ivan Savov collaborate again with Kirstina Grozeva and Petar Volanchov for Triumph, which, as I’ve been telling friend, is Showgirls with psychics. Triumph‘s Cristal Connors is Lieutenant Pirina Nyagolova (Margita Gosheva), bamboozling post-Soviet Bulgaria’s military about a hidden spacecraft. She takes a bunch of officers in rural Bulgaria, telling them they’re reaching high level energy circles. She does things like write symbols, selling the idea which may or may not be a grift.
Colonel Platnikov (Julian Vergov) wavers from believing Pirina until his daughter Slava (Bakalova) is showing the same psychic gifts. It’s difficult enough to be a woman in a man’s world but she takes Slava under her wing. But she and Platnikov clash on whether or not she or Slava is right about the hidden spacecraft’s location.
Triumph‘s approach is bigger, befitting these two directors’ latest ‘crazy but true’ story – it’s a trilogy now. That bigger approach saves the film that would otherwise fall towards the same traps about films with metaphors. Psychic powers are a metaphor for sex here as Slava hooks up with a Private Georgi (Julian Kostov, who produces the film with Bakalova).
Upon further thought, Triumph’s other dynamics make it a deeper text that is worth the viewer’s second look. There’s also a later scene here where Slava speaks to Platnikov that, even in gibberish, is genuinely scary. A small film like this gives a meaty role that’s perfect for an actress with an Oscar nomination.
- Rated: NR
- Genre: Comedy, Drama, Mystery
- Release Date: 9/8/2024
- Directed by: Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov
- Starring: Julian Vergov, Margita Gosheva, Maria Bakalova
- Produced by: Julian Kostov, Maria Bakalova
- Written by: Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov
- Studio: Abraxas Film, Five Ocean Films Ltd., Graal
