Review of Zift

My on my, where to start with... First of all, I really truly madly deeply wanted to like this movie. It couldn't be otherwise because prior to the premiere there was such a big media invasion on all the TV and radio stations and Javor Gardev was flowing from water and gas pipes telling us how f.cking great this movie is. So I went and paid 5 euro for the ticket (this is about 1/20th of the minimal month salary here). Then I entered the cold and ugly, almost socialistic dirty theater and tuned myself for watching a masterpiece. Then I was blown away. But not with something great. Literally the first words shows how poor in soul the scriptwriter and the director were. It starts with showing feces, stupidity, foul language, genitals and unusual sex scenes like some B-movie from the 80's. The script is inevitably bad, even for a post soc Bulgarian movie, with plot holes larger than black hole in the Universe and wooden and totally meaningless lines filled with pretentious philosophical stereotypes. All the time I was getting into the impression I was watching someone's training work. Well, not really. There are so many snitches from well known movies and directors that I can't really count all of them. As if Gardev was getting into Tarantino's mind (but without having all the money) and was assembling a movie from the small pieces of all the movies he had been watching.

Some of them include:

• Main idea snatched from "Crank" (the main character is poisoned and ought to die in one night, so the whole action takes one night)

• Script snatched from "Snatch" (the run for the (black) diamond and other ideas)

• Slow motion and other moves from "Trainspotting"

• Scenes taken directly from "Pulp Fiction" (the torture scene with Bruce Willis at the basement)

• Scenes taken directly from "Sin City" (for example when Bruce Willis falls on the board)

• Script snatched from "Revolver" (the main character ought to die in several hours so he starts giving a sh*t about everything)

• Scenes snitched from the TV movie "Statskiy Sovetnik" (The State Counsellor) at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450158/ - the run in the women's bathroom and other scenes

Then it becomes even funnier. There are two scenes snitched directly from soc classic series here in Bulgaria (I am sure you have never heard of them, but count on my words, it was truly classic) - "Na vseki kilometar" (At each kilometer) at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0238439/, I used to notice two entirely copied scenes - the chasing in the Perlova River's channel, the tramway pioneer's sequence...

All in all, I must say that using a foul language coupled with totally unbelievable, grotesque and inane characters does NOT a great movie made. Besides, the actor's play was bad to mediocre, with the only two noticeable exceptions - the main character Moth and Djoko Rossich, who is well known cinema professional. This is something most new Bulgarian movies suffer with - no one of the good theatrical actors have any experience with cinema, and I am constantly under impression I am watching TV version of the theatrical play. The lead female character was past all belief bad. Having really good actresses here I can't really explain why non-professional was ever cast. Her eroticism was non-existent. Even the sex scene at the end was flat and empty. At the very predictable end I was empty. I know that the movie has to have some double or hidden meaning, but the people in the audience doesn't seem to have caught it. BTW, from about 50 people in the theater I was one of the dozen ones to watch the movie till the end. And that's saying something. This is soctrash movie with no value so I don't recommend anyone watching it.