罪恶煞星国语

这是我今年看过的最好的一部电影，是我很少重复看的电影之一。
令人印象深刻的是，是男主角跑去酒吧找他的爱人的那一段，可以说是细腻到极致！那首令人意志消沉全身无力的插曲《满月》 ，仿佛是女主角的自我辩护，她说，我不过是一个崩溃的时代里“无助的贱人”。如果你没有看懂作者要表达的东西，你会觉得歌词莫名其妙，如果你看懂了，你就会感觉到她在最后一句里，一字一顿地发泄着对“月亮”的无比憎恨。 这就是这部电影点睛之处，它给了这女人一个华丽的出场，还没有展示其恶毒，先给了她一个自我辩护的机会，最后在逻辑结构上，成功地将一个人的罪，一群人的罪，转嫁给了它要批判的那个时代，转嫁给了它要批斗的“月亮”。
我并不认可这部电影要表达的颓废的小知识分子情怀，但它确实是一部好电影，它以唯有电影可以使用的，非常夸张艺术形式，告诉我们在那个“月亮”时代里，像作者这样的人是多么的郁闷。这部电影让我们了解到，原来在保加利亚人的心里，可原谅了那个恶毒的婊子，不能原谅“玩弄我们的月亮”。
还好，是俄罗斯人给了这部电影最高的荣誉。

http://www.indiewire.com/article/toronto_08_discovery_interview_zift_director_javor_gardev
by indieWIRE (September 2, 2008/



EDITORS NOTE: For the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival, indieWIRE will be publishing interviews with filmmakers in the Discovery section of the festival, which TIFF describes as a showcase for new and emerging filmmakers from contemporary international cinema.

Javor Gardev‘s “Zift” will be having its World Premiere in the Discovery section of the Toronto International Film Festival. The film follows “The Moth” (Zahary Baharov), a man freed on parole after spending time in a prison on a wrongful murder conviction. TIFF describes his first night out of jail as one in which he “draws the map of a diabolical city full of decaying neighbourhoods, gloomy streets and a bizarre parade of characters.” indieWIRE spoke to Gardev about the film and its screening at Toronto.

What initially attracted you to filmmaking and did that interest evolve while making your film?

My father used to take me regularly to the National Filmoteque in my native town of Sofia since I was four. Thus, I was exposed to the great film classics from an early age. Later, I developed passion for theater. I would try to watch as many stage plays and movies as I could possibly manage. I also played in TV performances for young viewers. During the summers of my adolescence, movies became essential part of the recreational romantics. We would climb the trees that surrounded open-space theaters at the Black-Sea resorts and watched gratis all the shows. Images from films became my personal icons. They were engraved in my mind for good.

Justifiably so, I turned to filmmaking after fourteen years of theater directing and philosophical wanderings. I debuted in the theater when I was 22. Now, I turned to filmmaking not to keep catching and feeding images to my mind, but to start making them. It turns out, I get a big kick out of this. During the making of “Zift” I developed a strong dependency on the intoxicating experience of moviemaking. I really miss the set. Now that the movie “Zift” is done, I feel the rush to go and get my movie fix not only in the theaters, but on the set again.

Please discuss how the idea for “Zift” came about…

News »
 Awards TrackerNews »
 AFI DeparturesFeatures »
 RIP Rohmer The idea developed during a series of conversations with the author of the script Vladislav Todorov. We came to the conclusion that contemporary Bulgarian film deals mainly with everyday-life experiences or engages in constructing national identity drawing on the folklore tradition or revisiting traumatic moments of history. So, we thought that in such artistic context a radical genre attack could be refreshing and trigger a productive debate. We picked one of the sharpest genres of cinema and gave it a strong absurdist spin. The action is set in the midst of the ominously monumental spaces of the totalitarian state surrounded by a bleak zone of urban life packed with roguish riffraff and witty lowlife. We remember the days of “spotless” communism with our skin, its pompous ugliness and exuberant absurdities. So we decided to frame the banality of communist evil, to “estrange” it on screen, to render it utterly odd by using a set of genre devices—the hardboiled cliche of neo-noir. This mix allowed me to walk the knife-edge between auteur and genre cinema.

Please elaborate on your approach to making the film, including your influences as well as your overall goals for the project.

As far as the cinematography is concerned, with DOP Emil Christov we decided to make a black and white picture in 1:2.35 anamorphic format. “Zift” was shot in color but with regard to a black and white final version. The scenes from the 60s are shot with 35 mm camera, the ones from the 40s - with 16 mm, and the phantasmagoric visions with 8 mm.

In terms of visual graphics and retro-effect, we were looking for ways to create different visual textures that would signal the time switches. With the art directors Nikola Toromanov and Daniela Oleg Liahova we decided to create a dystopian appearance of the communist reality even in moments when the action takes us to easily recognizable, sacred sites of Bulgarian communism, such as the Mausoleum of the Leader. The structure has been demolished and we had to rebuild it with CGI. The original score by Kalin Nikolov had to enhance the sense of dystopia. At the same time the picture had to spur combined associations with the visual characteristics of classical noir of the 40s and 50s and the socialist propaganda film of the 20s. I was influenced by directors like Charles Vidor, Fritz Lang, Jules Dassin, Lars von Trier, The Coen Brothers and Alexey German. The critics at the Moscow International Film Festival also mentioned Jean-Pierre Melville, Guy Ritchie, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Quentin Tarantino.

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced?

The biggest challenge for me as a debutant filmmaker was the preparation for shooting. I set myself on the ambitious task to draft comprehensive outlines—down to the greatest detail possible—of every single shot. With the help of two assistants, I turned those outlines into blocking diagrams. As a result, the crew on the set had on their disposal a book of about 1200 pages with charts and descriptions of the entire movie. Thus, I could pay more attention to my work with the actors. In this case, I have to admit, my stage experience helped me a lot. With the actors I was in charted waters and the enjoyment was unbelievable.

Casting was also challenging. Casting was also challenging. The main male actors Zachary Baharov, Vladimir Penev, and Mihail Mutafov were chosen without special audition. I just knew who should play these roles. Our discovery was Tanya Ilieva. Together with my casting assistant Antonia Ara Vladimirova we spent time hunting for faces in Sofia. And we were able to find an amazing bunch of characters and convinced them to play in the movie. In the jail scenes there are extras who were actually set free on the day before shooting.

What is your next project?

Together with Vladislav Todorov we are working on two new film projects that are on the stage of script development. The first one is called “Zincograph.” The genre could be termed “political psycho-thriller.” The premise is simple—what would happen if a maniacal former agent of the communist secret police takes a proactive approach, starts to “recruit” unsuspecting people to spy on each other and thus develops his own network of informants, strictly private and invisible for the institutions? This is a farcically sinister story driven by the workings of the mind of a former agent turned psychopathic schemer, who pulls a roguish act on the entire political system that has rejected him.

The second story is significantly more ambitious in terms of budgetary considerations. It is called “Neon” and its genre could be defined as “tragicomic dystopian adventure.” The story takes us into the far future of Neo Thrace—a fictional country created on the Balkans in the aftermath of the Grand Atomic Anomaly. Like in a crooked mirror, the country of Neo-Thrace reflects the totalitarian past and the present state of affairs in the Balkan region. We are actively looking for co-producers for both projects and I hope to find them in Toronto.

As far as my theater projects are concerned, I am presently rehearsing “Caligula” by Camus. It is a Bulgarian-French coproduction that will premiere in Bulgaria shortly after Toronto.

What are your goals for the Toronto International Film Festival?

For me personally, Toronto will test the potential of “Zift” on international stage. This will be the second major challenge for the film before its Bulgarian premiere in September and after the recognition that it received in Moscow. It was highly acclaimed by the jury of the main competition, by the Russian film critics, by cinefiles and bloggers. I am very eager to find out how “Zift” will connect with audiences and the professional community overseas. With the growing apprehension of a first-timer, I am waiting to hear their judgment. Well, I am sure, I’ll leave Toronto with unforgettable memories. Also, two of the producers of “Zift” - Matey Konstantinov and Ilian Djevelekov - will be in Toronto to explore the possibilities for international distribution. In this respect we are hopeful since we already got some serious offers from several major Russian and European distributers. I hope that Toronto, markedly one of the biggest film markets, will prove decisive for our film and the producers from Miramar Film will be there to make sure we do not miss this rare chance.

Naturally, as every sober man, I have three wild wishes that I will not be bashful to share:

Wild wish number one (modest): To sign with a major production company for a movie I’d like to make.

Wild wish number three (super ambitious): Dinner with Joel and Ethan Coen after the screening of “Burn After Reading.”



 

简单的剧情或许不应该配上如此复杂的悬念。但影片形式很大胆，作者对时代反思的譬喻尤其深刻。港译片名很商业，失去了原名双重隐喻的内涵，对于这样一部艺术片，或许很多人会当成充满暴力和情色的类型片来看，而忽视了对其反身指涉的思考。

    《浅黑色》的风格被视为昆汀·塔伦蒂诺和盖·里奇式的，可它一点都不轻松。它仿佛一颗气球，外表光鲜美丽，内里却包裹着保加利亚艰涩的一段历史。主人公外号飞蛾，在保加利亚实现共产主义之前被错判入狱。时间到了六十年代，他被释放，因为他在监狱里积极传播共产主义思想，然而外面的世界对他而言是陌生的。实际上他刚一出狱就被一个政府官员带到公共澡堂里受拷打，因为一颗价值不菲的宝石被认为落入他的手里。他的处境不过是个讽刺性的比喻，从一个监狱转入另一个监狱。折磨他的政府官员正是在1944年策划抢劫宝石的那个混混。在这里，电影对保加利亚的政权实质幽默而尖锐地提出了它的见解，亦即这个国家的权势者有其强盗的本性，这样的见解还体现在它对某种电影美学的揶揄之上，比如，电影故意采用苏联的社会现实主义手法来描写六十年代保加利亚的工人面貌，正是由于这样手法与作为整体风格的黑色幽默形成直接对照，从而获得了创作者想要的理想效果。
    《浅黑色》的可看性是很强的，对保加利亚的观众来说，它远不是一张书页，翻过了就过去了，它是一本厚厚的书，一本好书。它在保加利亚获得了不俗的票房成绩。它也必是保加利亚电影史上，至少是过去二十年保加利亚电影最好的一部。

  电影通篇都是让众多的配角们说着一些奇怪的故事和貌似莫测的高深台词．但是我想也只有导演自己才＂可能＂知道这些故事和台词包含着些什么寓意和哲理．（个人认为也只有开头那个关于人类排泄物的故事才能博人一笑，至少还有点昆汀似的幽默．）
  当然，当然，导演会争辩说，我的电影是有政治寓意在里边的．好吧，那么我们就来谈谈政治寓意，电影故事的主线：当年和主角一起搭伙做强盗的家伙在主角出了监狱之后，成了保加利亚共产主义新政府的干部，但这样的事例也太具普遍意义了吧，我完全可以把导演在电影中描写的共产主义政府替换成意大利右派政府，阿根廷军政府，美国资产阶级政府……故事本身在逻辑上照样成立，加之导演根本没有好好的在电影中对故事的政治背景作必要的刻画和渲染．（导演都把时间和精力用在设计那些神神叨叨的小故事和台词上了），所以这个电影故事的主线本身就毫无可信性可言．
  真是一部故作高深，不知所谓的电影．

http://axinlove.com/2009/05/zift/

《Zift[黑色橡胶]》女性的隐喻
by @xinl.ve 090514

严重剧透，观光请入！

zift
(from arabic)
1. Black natural resin. asphalt. Used as filler for road surface. and as chewing gum.
(urban slang)
2. Snit.
两种语义，源自阿拉伯语中的黑色脂类或橡胶，用来做路面和口香糖，另一种是俚语“心情紧张，焦急状况”。片头里用上面的文字做了名词解释，并用了“zift”作为片名，自然电影中包括了这两个语义。前一个指向明确，本片主角的随身之物—-一个黑色的橡胶球，后一个是一种情绪，24小时里发生一辈子的事情，可以牵强一下。

黑色橡胶球是电影事件的焦点所在，片名和名词解释强调关键词过后，马上接上某人一大段的“插科打诨”之语和其他的隐喻，观众早已忘了“Zift”的含义。它的名号还远不如Moth或Mantis两个绰号响亮，甚至也比上狱友老人的假眼珠。下半场才登场，甚为一般的外表也不能夺人眼球被人记住，被主人公带在身上，不过看似一个幸运物或者护身符，也或者类似于人物身上的刺青，增加了电影的话题性。和魔术一样的手法，用一连串绚丽的手法隔离视线与记忆（澡堂追逐假眼球的一场戏），在你快要遗忘时，秀出技艺的精妙—-黑色橡胶藏着秘密。

橡胶的黑色并不离奇，因为沥青路面随处可见，常见的本色。与橡胶黑色一致的电影主色，是一个很好的调调，特别是当被认为可能又是一个《Sin City[罪恶之城]》的时候（两片相距遥远，远非一路），电影色彩的复古是有前科的。躺在我待看电影许久的《La Antena[天线]》，还有George Clooney和Kate Blanchett的《The Good German》，都可以看做利用色彩做文章的范例。

然而，虽然一个犯罪故事的点在橡胶球这个道具，又加上一些乱花迷眼的其它玩意，同时在电影的色彩上大做文章，依我过分解读电影来看，都不如导演给女主角形象的隐喻来得重要。

女主人公Ada或女主演Tanya Ilieva之于导演的意义如何？费里尼的作品里总有过分丰满的痴肥妓女，这是因为在他性启蒙时期，妓女小金鲷也生活在里米尼。曾带给他视觉创伤的体魄，一直萦绕在记忆当中，在这种形象特征上加上女性传统的身份—-母亲、妻子等，对于“幼小”男孩强势的身份。一贯肥胖而巨大的妓女，是费里尼不经意的心理流露。电影世界曾经是，也依然是一个男性把持的领域，女性在其中要成为电影的主导者（编剧、导演、制片等）非常困难，但是在表演的舞台，女性赢得更为平等的空间。

《Zift》毫无疑问是一部带有复杂隐喻的电影。从电影的表象来看，恋人关系在性、情感、刺青和外号（母螳螂在交配后吃掉公螳螂）的作用下，最后变得错乱。Ada情感上的背叛可以理解，当事情仿佛要完结时，依然选择单干而离去仅仅用贪婪就显得不足。狂野、神秘，并拥有一些艺术的天分及气质，导演给女性“美”，但没有给予“道德”—-特吕福的凯瑟琳（《夏日之恋》的女主角）。如艺术雕像一样的美，不停追逐自由、被爱慕和自我毁灭，Ada是Javor Gardev的凯瑟琳么？教堂、神父作为宗教与信仰的代言人，在影片尬了一脚，加上电影的背景是东欧国家保加利亚在1944年—-苏联携着共产主义呼啸西进的年代，被压迫的不而不得专注的男性比意象未明的女性要容易理解得多，Ada要没有Motherland的寓意，那实在是言语不通。凯瑟琳周旋于德国和法国两个男友之间，小城担泽在德国和波兰的缝隙里拒绝长大，小女孩Ofelia受到牧神潘的引诱时西班牙游击队和法西斯军队正在生啖对方，凡此种种均可视为《Zift》的范本。

监狱早晨6点的闹钟，电影晚上6点的结束。
—————-
注意：Arthouse出品。

Zift.2008.DVDSCR.XViD-ARTHOUSE