Zift

Javor Gardev's 2008 Bulgarian film is an essay in noir shot in black and white. A man nicknamed Moth is released on parole after a long sentence for a murder he did not commit. The country was in its postwar order when he went in; when he comes out it is the totalitarian Sofia of the sixties and nothing he knew is where he left it. The whole film takes place on his first night of freedom, as he moves through the city looking for his old partner, his old lover and a missing diamond. The narrative is constantly interrupted; characters tell long stories and those digressions make up the film's texture. The photography deliberately imitates the conventions of classic noir. The tone is coarse, the humour bodily and at times disgusting. It won a prize in Moscow. Who it's for: viewers who like noir and Eastern European experiments in genre. Who it's not for: anyone expecting a measured account; the film uses its crudeness on purpose.