Zift (2008)

Director:

Javor Gardev

Writers:

Vladislav Todorov (novel)
Vladislav Todorov (script)

Release Date:

25 September 2008 (Bulgaria)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Tagline:

The night of the man who chewed asphalt.

Plot:

Moth is freed on parole after spending time in prison on wrongful conviction of murder. Jailed shortly before the Bulgarian communist coup of 1944...

Plot Keywords:

Jail | Neo Noir | Feces | Beautiful Woman | Public Bath

Awards:

10 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Zahary Baharov	...	Moth
Tanya Ilieva	...	Ada
Vladimir Penev	...	Slug
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dimo Alexiev	...	Private
Tzvetan Alexiev	...	Grater
Antony Argirov	...	Tipsy Student 1
Gergana Arnaudova	...	Pioneer Group Leader
Blagovest Blagoev	...	Man with Mustaches
Tsvetan Dimitrov	...	Sergeant Major
Sava Dragunchev	...	Waiter
Ian Georgiev	...	Jony
Alexander Kadiev	...	Tipsy Student 3
Ivo Krastev	...	Superintendent
Anastassia Liutova	...	Nurse
Simeon Lyutakov	...	Man with cotton balls in his ears
Mariana Makova	...	The Insect Merchant
Veselin Mezekliev	...	Warden 3
Jordan Mutafov	...	Bijou
Mihail Mutafov	...	Van Wurst-the Eye
Danail Obretenov	...	Man with Bowtie
Velislav Pavlov	...	Barman
Hristo Petkov	...	Deputy Chief Gravedigger
Snezhina Petrova	...	Doctor
Pavlin Petrunov	...	Tipsy Student 2
Iliya Raev	...	Lia Raev
Djoko Rosic	...	Priest
Vasil Ryahov	...	Warden 2
Yosif Shamli	...	Raycho the Skin
Yordan Slaveikov	...	Man with bottle of Buza
Bojka Velkova	...	Lady at the Bar
Yavor Veselinov	...	Valentine
Svetla Yancheva	...	Swarthy Gypsy

Runtime:

Bulgaria:92 min | Argentina:92 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

Bulgaria

Language:

Bulgarian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Hong Kong:III (Hong Kong International Film Festival)

Filming Locations:

Bulgaria

Company:

Bulgarian National Film Center

Trivia:

Bulgaria's 2009 Academy Awards official submission to Foreign-Language Film category.

Movie Connections:

References Gilda (1946)

1 star or 10 stars

In fact, a sociological research can be done about Bulgaria along those pages here.

Some people say "it is the worst movie ever" and give it 1 star, some say it is "the best Bulgarian movie" and give it 8-10 stars. Well, the truth is somewhere in between. (I hate that "this movie is horrible" people say "too much profanity"... what? This movie is FAR LESS profane than ANY meeting in Bulgaria, where men are present...)

-The acting... is bad. Or, there is not any. Only Moth is kinda okay, the rest is in the mediocre-horrible range (Ada being the bottom).

-Characters... are horrible. Firstly, NOBODY swears... Undertakers, drunkards, military people, prisoners... WHAT? I don't know if non-balkan guys know how is it here, but HELL, even most intelligent of our guys swear like hell... when you listen to angry security guard for example, you can laugh your ass from the swears you will hear... In this movie- "f!ck, sh!t". Hell, Americans swear that way, bulgarians... DON'T. Besides, all characters speak in PERFECT Bulgarian, which makes them totally frigid and unrealistic (imagine a movie about a ghetto, where all black guys talk like Barrack Obama).

-The storyline- is utterly messed at the end. The motives of some major characters remain unclear when the lights are up.

-The Balkan humor- is missing and that is just insane. All we have to offer IS THAT, not make some high-budget movie rip-offs- because they won't work.

-The dialogue- is most of the time bad. So is the narrator text- yeah, it is from a book... SO WHAT? There are bad books too- and this one is one of them.

-The scene when they run at the women public bath and there are numerous naked women- is POINTLESS. I don't hold anything against nudity, but I HATE pointless nudity.

Yeah, with so much "bads", someone will ask where are the "goods". Well, there are some. The movie is nicely shot, from my point of view- this is the big +. There were some nice moments too. But that's about it. Yes, the dialogue, story, acting weren't insanely bad, they weren't Epic/Disaster movie bad, they just weren't any good. I would give that movie 3 or 4 for the effort- it is not so bad to deserve 1, but it ain't deserving 8-10 too... not by a long shot.