sharkies69 Saw this at the Sydney Film Festival and was a little disappointed. Seemed to be a lot of hype surrounding this. Really liked the black and white photography and had high hopes after a nice opening. Unfortunately the movie lost me in the middle and never quite recovered.I'd have to agree with one of the earlier posts. I think Gardev has definitely borrowed from other films and directors. Apart from that Todorov's screenplay doesn't quite work for me but I would love to read the book (the English translation is released next year). I found the little stories and anecdotes from minor characters to be intrusive and tiresome after a while and I don't know if the voice-over was that effective.Thought the acting was fine and there were some amusing moments but overall I can't work out if this was supposed to be a thriller or black comedy, heist flick, noir potboiler or a bit of all of these.

video1212 As a SWF I was literally taken into watching this movie by a friend and I truly regret every minute of it. Later, browsing through Bulgarian blogs I stumbled upon something I think I should translate to every non-Bulgarian native viewer to see. Since I hate plagiarism, I'll post it:HOW TO STEAL ZIFTFirst: We steal the plot from the movie "Crank" with Jason Statham (2006)!Second: We steal style from the soundtrack of Kill BillThird: We steal a dozen of a military jokes !Fourth: We steal Felini's characters!Fifth: We steal Kusturitsa's background!Sixth: We steal the Phillip Marlowe's monologues, created decades earlier from the great writer Raymond Chandler!Seventh: We steal episodes from about at least 10-12 worldwide known movies, I don't have spare time enough to count the details!..... we mix all the things on black and white and voilà! We get worldwide applause and we amaze the already berserk Hollywood:((( At least this is the info taken from our "objective" press (excuse me)!What the heck are we left with? We can "steal" the same movie at some torrent site and to at least know that we're not in for it financially from all this SH*T! We steal, we watch, we swear and we delete the movie afterward. At least if we have the opinion of our own.The movie "Zift" is super pitiful... at my personal estimation! I don't give a sh*t about the competent jury, about mass advertisement and box office records in Bulgaria's standards! The mere tries for the movie to look like Metallica's video clip doesn't save the production at all. It is just that every minute of this movie you're guessing what exactly movie you were watching the same thing in and you try to guess the title :((( We have good level of actor's play, that's only positive thing, WITH THE EXCEPTION of Tanya Ilieva, who pushes lines with the power of expression of the green euglene in the non-fertile age. At least her tits are nice :))) Aaaa! And this "Nosferatu" from the Bulgarian Big Brother 4... Tzvetan! He shows as a mockery with mustache, obviously made out of plastic tape.What we have at the end of the long run: that the "Modern Bulgarian Cinema" is not Modern, is not Bulgarian and is not cinema at all :((( Not to mention that chewing asphalt in the years when chewing gum Ideal was becoming cult, is true perversion!I don't like this movie!

K_Todorov I remember when I first heard about "Zift" some months before it was released and I couldn't believe what I had just heard and then I watched the trailer and I couldn't believe what I saw and when I finally saw the film back in early October I remember leaving the theatre with a big grin on my face, thinking how I just saw something I thought would never happen. Wonderful so very wonderful, I don't know if it can revive Bulgarian cinema, I think it's too far gone already, but I'll be definitely following Javor Gardev's career from this point on. The man shows promise as a director who thinks outside the box. Compared to that meatwagon of stale films that get made here from time to time, Zift is revolutionary in it's visual style, narrative and plot.Opening with a reference to Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, "Zift" is the story of a man nicknamed Moth, no real name is ever mentioned. Right now Moth is a prisoner and it's the 1960s which in Bulgaria meant hardcore Communist regime, Moth was in prison before that regime came to power, but that's beside the point for now. What matters is that he's getting released today and he's all to keen in getting as far away as possible, but not before paying last respect to some prison guard he didn't really like. Result, Moth gets punched, knocked down, guards throw him out of the prison, then a car with some military officer comes along and they take Moth to some crummy place and they start torturing him. Apparently they are looking for some diamond... and it's going to be one hell of a long day for Moth and that's all I'm going to say about the story.From the start "Zift" tells you how this is going to play out, I don't mean that it's predictable or anything, what I'm talking about is style. The dialogue, the characters, the film has a quirky pitch black sense of humor, like the zift Moth likes chewing, it's not something that can appeal to everyone, and it might seem vulgar or profane or whatever, but it has it's lyrical value, it just adds up. Every story told by a character, however humorous or shallow it might seem, has it's own kind of wisdom to it, though not necessarily connected to the storyline. The film feels both distinctly western and distinctly Bulgarian, or Balkan to be more general, because it uses a storyline similar to that of the American Pulp novels (Zift itself is an adaptation of a pulp novel), film noirs and then the character stereotypes (femme fatales, anti hero protagonist) and all these elements get mixed together with Bulgarian culture and stereotypes, resulting in what I dare say, a quite original and refreshing piece of cinematic wonder.Visually speaking "Zift" is all high contrast black and white goodness, a tasty treat for anyone who values the classic two color scheme. Essential for it's narrative structure is a series of flashbacks explaining, character relationships and background stories and depending on the flashback (a 1930s something maybe, 1940s, or modern time in the film's time frame 1960s) we get a scene shot on different film. So for example the 1960s part of the film is shot on 35mm while the earliest on 8mm, thus giving "Zift" a substantially different look for each time segment. I have to mention something about the acting and while I liked Zahary Bahalov as Moth, he played him with a lot of bravado, my hat goes down to the supporting cast, including the great Djoko Rosic as a priest who consoles Moth, and a whole lot of other actors who gave the film a strong energy boost.And while it does have its own share of flaws(the ending felt rushed) and it might seems as if it's going nowhere, and some scenes might seem pointless to the overall plot, Zift is, nevertheless, high quality entertainment, an example in genre film-making, stylish and sharp-edged. The least to say about Javor Gardev's debut is that it's an opening to a promising career.

stefan_kz_bg This is the top of the Bulgarian film industry,I think.Not forever,but for the past 25-30 years.This is the Bulgarian movie,that has the biggest chance of winning ANY award worldwide.It's about the drama,the innovative story told by it,and the acting.The old school Bulgarian actors like Djoko Rosich for example,along with the younger actors,made a great masterpiece of the already brilliant script. My new favorite film,getting "The Shawshank redemption" off the top. Congratulations Bulgaria,you made me proud with your present achievement for the first time.You made me proud with your past only,but until I saw this! 10/10 from me!