Zift

Watching this innovative black and white noir thriller, I kept thinking that Frank Miller must have written it, so perfectly does it fit the sensibility of his Sin City comic book series. Innovative, not exactly original: one can indeed detect the influence of any number of famous noir flicks, most notably D.O.A. But it's executed so perfectly that I wouldn't want to complain. My wife said that the film was rich in allusions to Bulgarian life and culture which went right past me. She is definitely not a genre fan but she really liked this movie. Certainly the best Bulgarian movie I've seen since the magically-realistic anti-communist fable The Well.

This movie has given back to me the hope that Bulgarian cinema is going upward! Tha last few bg titles that i've seen all seemed to have a problem - they were weird (in terms of plot, acting, locations, camera angles). And just because a movie is tragic, strange, original and twisted doesn't mean it's good. Yes, maybe it can move you. Maybe. Maybe one can admit that the movie is totally genuine. But that still doesn't mean it's a masterpiece. Something is just missing for the movie to be enjoyable and moving while you're in the theater and mind blowing when you get out and think it over. The missing parts probably are the perfect storyline of Zift, the look of Zift, the action of Zift, the soundtrack of Zift, the grotesque humor of Zift! That's what makes the film of Yavor Gardev so successful - perfection itself!

I must say I am not a fan of Bulgarian cinema even though I am a Bulgarian myself. All the films I have seen until this point were very disappointing and could only be compared between themselves because films outside Bulgaria had always stood above in terms of cinematography, acting,Direction, Budget etc. Of course many would say this is not true, films during socialism period were many more and much better in terms of quality. While this is true that certainly does not make them foreign standard. The acting is more like theatrical than cinematic and the picture quality has more white spots on it than mount Everest, not to even mention the Sound. Cinema after 1990s had not improved much.

I do not remember when I heard about Zift, I think I found it on IMDb, so I decided to check out the Trailer. I was blown away, for the first time in my life I was so excited about seeing a Bulgarian film. Yes It did took me a while since I live in the UK but I did saw it yesterday.After seeing it I felt depressed and had mixed feelings about it.I am going to analyse the film in positives and negatives.

Positives: - First Bulgarian neo-noir film - First Bulgarian film successfully presents the Thriller and Action elements in genre. - Very Good acting, especially from the Zahary Baharov and Djoko Rosic - First Bulgarian film to use cgi, I know this could be a negative but in this case it is used very well. - Monologue is absolutely outstanding in some parts. - Unlike most recent Bulgarian films this one is not set around just one location. - For its small Budget, a very good recreation of 1960s Sofia. - Awesome Soundtrack - Good Humor in places.

Negatives: - Too short, 85 minutes felt too short to fully achieve its potential. - Many unnecessary scenes involving downgrade humanity and dialogue which focus on 'toilet humour' - Too much nudity, this is something which all Bulgarian films suffer from but this one takes it on another level.(This may not be a negative to all but I generally do not like too much nudity, I believe there is different films for that purpose.)

Overall I believe the positives overcome the negatives and In conclusion I must say I liked Zift even though by no means its a masterpiece. It is very likely to be enjoyed by people who are fans of films like, Trainspotting, Irreversible, Requiem for a Dream, The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover and Tarantino's work.

This strange, lyrical semi-gangster movie reminded me of "El Topo" and "Eraserhead" in the way it stumbles with deceptive carelessness through its plot. Smalltime thief "Moth", who's lost his youth imprisoned for a murder he didn't commit, is released hoping to jump a freighter to the tropics. Fate and his past intervene.

"Zift" bows to film-noir classics like "Gilda" and "DOA", even lifting plot elements, but this little gem uses their themes only as point of departure, as it does references to "Candide": If all is best in the best possible worlds, all is worst in the worst.

And Soviet-era Bulgaria director Gardev depicts is just that - filthy, casually brutal and airlessly detached. Its denizens gossip via dirty jokes and debase themselves with joyful abandon. It's bracing to see such a depiction, since the "Marxist experiment" of Russia and Eastern Europe is almost sentimentally beheld in most Western media ('course, we didn't live the ugliness of the "paradise"). And a glimmer of humanity and soul in a Christian church surely would keep "Zift" off fashionably dogmatic PBS.

The world of the Moth is as black and spongy as the tar he loves to chew - the "zift" of the title. But there is within it laughter and truth. Highly recommended.

It didn't have an Oscar nomination(for the best foreign language award) this year, still Zift is a crowning and epoch making epic movie for Bulgaria and Eastern/North-Eastern Europe. Hence, in the years ahead this movie will be mentioned often for its contemporary style, modern cinema language and creative editing.

Centering on a criminal, nicknamed as "Moth", the story is taken from a novel and is adapted to screenplay from its own novelist. Director Javor Gardev features Moth being a self-respecting and chivalrous Bulgarian, reflecting the character of his country under Communism. As such from the literary perspective, personification has applied to Bulgaria. Despite all of his relatives and friends leaving him alone, and his wife wounding his pride; he has never held his head down.

Not only the past of his country, the writer also reflects the present and the future of Bulgaria within the same literary perspective in a dark utopia, or a neo-noir(film-noir). The screenplay of Zift is very focused and detail-oriented on a simple storyline. The concept of the whole storyline is the sum of Moth's escape to freedom, his short-term memories, the stories he heard from his friends, how he is losing his last hope and how he dies. There we can realize obviously that the main purpose of the movie is not to tell, but is to impress. Director Gardev leaked impacts from Fellini's, Emir Kusturica's and Danny Boyle's cinematic methods. On the other hand, I don't include Frank Miller in this list; since Sin City and Zift has nothing in common but the cinematography. On the level of artistic value, Zift has more value than its comparisons.

Even though it's resembling several industrial box-office hits, the screenplay is truly original; considering that a novel writer has prepared the whole script from his own adaptation, you will see the total commitment of creating this epic by the production crew. There are scenes of violence, nudity, sexuality, perversity, immorality and enormity. Viewer discretion is strongly advised. It's only suitable for mature viewers and minor groups.