Zift (2008)

In a time where brutality in movies only count when you see tons of blood, sex only count when it looks like porn and the story only count when there are 20 story switches with three parallel stories in it, the Bulgarian cinema brought us a movie which have not any of this in it and although it is ten times better.I am finished five minutes ago watching this movie. And there is no way for me to describe the reason why i give that flick a ten.Not one minute of that movie is boring, nothing in it is hyperbolical. Its lyrical without being intellectual.Just watch it. You will not regret any minute of you're live that you will have spended for watching this movie.

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.

Black and white picture and trash talking do NOT make an Neo-Noir movie… We can guess the director's ideas or the story morals. We can guess, but what's delivered as an final product is unsuccessful attempt for modern cinematography. The story is full of flows – from the neat looking fascist time prison with snow white sweat shirts on all of the prisoners, trough kidnapping of the main character with an Russian limousine (impossible situation) garnished with bath full of women (let it be flesh…). A young girl that does not age with 20 years, a jeweler that likes to keep a black diamond… well you know where, while he exercise…. And please, radioactive poison detected in no time by lab in the beginning of the 60's….. I know, those inconsistent facts are only the side dish of the BIG idea, the big wisdom that we must get and embrace. I did not get neither the idea, neither the wisdom. All I got is foul language, trash picture and one more convincing example that the new Bulgarian Cinema is in the same "zift" as the movie title

I seriously can not believe it, that the Bulgarian ministry of culture would finance such a movie. What you see in it is a true insult for any Bulgarian people, and those, who comment positive, are just more brainwashed people who do not care about their own heritage.The plot of this "movie" is weak, performance of the actors is at best mediocre, camera work is bad. It is true, that it gets close to western civilisation criteria for a good movie, cause of all the violence, brutality, and barbarism, but this is not who we Bulgarians are.I believe i read in another post that Bulgarian cinematography is dead since 20 years, and well, after watching this pile of crap, i have to agree.