A Serbian Film

Home
Smell the Movies
Smell the TV

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Year:	2010
Country of origin:	Serbia
Director:	Srdjan Spasojevic
Genre:	Challenging horror
Starring:	Srdjan Todorovic, Sergej Trifunovic
Rating:	5/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1273235/
Tagline:	No tagline
Favourite line:	N/A - subtitled

I think most people familiar with me, either through website, blog or real life, would safely assume that I am not easily rattled by controversial works of art, be it visual or aural. I can sit through the most stomach-churning gore the horror meisters have to offer with nerry a flinch, can listen to NSBM bands banging out their anti-Zionist, anti-Semitic nonsense without so much as a pause, can cast a curious eye over Marcus Harvey's remarkable piece, Myra, untainted by the vitriolic opinions of the naysayers.
So it was, with a confidence borne of experience, that I settled in for A Serbian Film, described variously as 'odious pornography' 'tragic, sickening, disturbing' and pure shock/novelty/boundary-pushing.'
Yeah, yeah, thought I.
Heard it all before.
Wasn't The Human Centipede meant to be so disgusting as to be barely watchable?
Well, watched that, found it be a surprisingly campy slice of nastiness.
What about Cronenberg's Crash from a few years back? Sickening, apparently. I rather liked it!
So the credits rolled and, as clichéd as it may sound, nothing could have prepared me for what was to follow.

The plot:
Milos, a faded porn star, is reluctantly hired by a reclusive, yet highly regarded porn director. Not really sure what he is being hired for, but eager for the money, Milos is driven to the location for his scenes and is disturbed by the imagery being used: un-simulated violence, suggestions of rape, children in scenes.
Understandably Milos wants out, and attempts to flee, but is drugged and awakens covered in blood.
The director reveals that he has been 'unaware' for three days, during which time footage has been shot of Milos engaging in all manner of deviant acts; beating a woman to death as he is penetrating her; being anally raped, all carried out in a drug-infused rage.
In a miasma of confusion and revulsion, Milos pieces together the clues, filling in the missing days, leading to a finale so mind-bendingly shocking it genuinely left me reeling.

As powerful as cinema gets, this is profoundly disturbing and affecting.
Though the subject matter is repugnant, and some of the material put on screen veering into the obscene - a newborn baby being raped, a father raping his own young son, a mid-coital decapitation - this is nevertheless an important movie and, as promised, is truly boundary pushing.
Fans of extreme cinema only need apply, believe me, but those with the stomach will have to wait a long time for a movie as challenging as this.
Wow.