Exploitation movie, Bulgarian style. By BRANNAVAN GNANALINGAM.

Zift is an exploitation film curtained in high contrast. A black and white hyper-machismo tale of revenge and revelry, it shamelessly plunders from other noir/revenge/exploitation films and blows it all up in 60s Bulgaria. Assuming that the maxim of a girl and a gun is for prudes, the film frolics in its nudity and violence to the point of ridiculousness. Outrageous camera angles, barely-believable storylines, sordid characters are all necessary to qualify as exploitation these days, so it’s hardly dripping in originality. But despite its unabashed neo-noir silliness, it’s highly watchable, and perhaps offers some sort of critique of Communist Bulgaria. Perhaps.

Moth is released from prison in 60s Sofia after going to jail for a murder he didn’t commit, but before he has a chance to look for revenge, is kidnapped by an old accomplice, Slug, who is looking for a diamond lost during a heist. All Moth wants to do is catch up with his old flame Ada (who’s a bit like Gilda) but is instead fed a poison which gives him one night to live. But who needs a plot when style is more important? It touches all the right buttons for an exploitation fan. Gratuitous public bath scene à la Tinto Brass? Check. Prisoners who come out of Riki-Oh? Check. Park Chan-wook sautéed revenge? Check. Subtitles so hard-boiled it disintegrates? Check. (Apparently the inventive subtitles missed a lot from its Bulgarian original, which leads me to think that the source novel must be some sort of Bulgarian Finnegans Wake.) Is it essentially Sin City? Check.

Given Zift is in debt to noir, its biggest flaw is its femme fatale. Unlike the best film noir femme fatales, Ada is given no chance to be anything more than a frequently naked body. Which makes it hard to deny the film has more than a dash of misogyny. It revels in the squalor so much though that it’s hard to believe it could be trying to make a serious point. But as Moth is imprisoned just before the Communist takeover in Bulgaria, the brutal machismo and un-brotherly treatment of the characters in the film does offer some sort of unsubtle commentary on the Communist Bulgaria. And for all its derivativeness, in this respect, it could considered somewhat arty.