Except for the huge nostalgia hit I took by this series, it could not move me much. Dialogues are unnecessarily long and sometimes dull. Sitting in the same room for 10 minutes, after witnessing time travel, with no emotion is bad acting and quite boring for the viewer. Velislav Pavlov's acting improves a bit in the second episode, but not by much. Slow, emotionless, "slick", talking lazy, with boredom in his voice. When I mentioned voice, I have to also mention the infamous bad sound of the Bulgarian cinema. Most younger actors were just spitting out their lines without acting. Voice sound was pretty quiet and hard to hear. Luckily it improved in episode 2. The beginning credits are too long, but this maybe intentional. There are several seconds in almost each shot which can be cut without harming the story. It would speed up the otherwise slow pace. Now the good part - excellent nostalgia trip throughout the 1979 communist Bulgaria: cars, props, communist slogans, clothes, toys, places.. A lot of small details to remind/picture the social and political situation at the time. Excellent use of the 2019 protests and the blend of old video footage and today's video shots. I hope next episodes to become better.
Review of The Portal
