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Perfect cast and a good story

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

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.

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.

I am Bulgarian and I feel really ashamed of this ,,masterpiece,,. I actually prefer not making movies than watching something like this. The worst scenario I can imagine, no action - voice behind the scene reading from the book ( the movie is based on a book ). Unrelated boring scenes - trying to add a color in the black and white movie. The language - I have no words for this, so much profanity, swearing etc. Half of the movie is about fences, genitals, farts, stuff like that. I don't want my country to be remembered with this. The acting is really, really bad, terribly static, so many empty faces, no sign of feelings at all, totally stunning. So is the camera, not more than 2 points of view. The overshooting with bed scenes is completely embarrassing, much full nudity to compensate the lack of scenario and good acting, but even if someone feel the need to make a movie full with unnecessary naked scenes why not try to make them a little more erotic. This was the most sad erotic scenes, not good even for an amateur porn. I lost hour and a half of my life just to feel sad, ashamed and embarrassed. People who liked this movie are just pseudo-patriots to me. I am a real patriot and I want to see a good movie once in 50 years than this crap, and it is a real crap - the whole predictable story is about crap. I just had the nerves to watch it because I am Bulgarian myself, but I wish it never existed.

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!