![]() ![]() That it may also be an example of those things is no contradiction. The framing tale, with its allusions to the Balkan wars of the 1990s and the greed and political corruption that followed, can thus be seen as a piece of corrosive social criticism, exposing a national psychology of sadism, misogyny and self-pity. Spasojevic’s movie and also, perhaps more directly, to the movie inside it, which Vukmir envisions as a transcendent expression of Serbia’s national identity. What you make of this spectacle - which is filmed, not without skill, in slick and lurid widescreen composition - will depend to some extent on how you interpret the movie’s title, with its deadpan implication of typicality. Suffice it to say that they make the bad bits of Lars von Trier’s “Antichrist” look like the Smurfs. Newspaper-friendly euphemisms do not really exist for the images Mr. Rape, incest, murder, torture, necrophilia - these words seem positively genteel in reference to the grisly scenes that Milos joins, mostly against his will. Once the shooting of Vukmir’s movie starts, however, that line is definitively transgressed, as “A Serbian Film” descends into a spectacle of increasingly cruel and gruesome sexual violence. Spasojevic seems to be settling into a De Palmaesque realm of queasy, kinky, suspenseful comedy, teasing the boundary between titillation and revulsion. Lured by a fantastic sum of money, Milos signs up for a project that Vukmir promises will produce a world-historical and uniquely Serbian work of art. Milos, he says, is “a Balkan sex god,” the Nikola Tesla of fornication, whatever that means. Milos (Srdjan Todorovic), a stringy-haired, sad-eyed fellow who has retired from a career in pornography to spend more time with his wife (Jelena Gavrilovic), their son and a large bottle of Jack Daniel’s, is pulled back into his old profession by an offer from Vukmir (Sergej Trifunovic), a cinéaste whose perversity is matched only by his pomposity. At first glance - and few are likely to dare a second - it belongs in the high-concept shock-horror tradition whose most recent and notorious specimen is probably “The Human Centipede.” As is often the case with movies like this, “A Serbian Film” revels in its sheer inventive awfulness and dares the viewer to find a more serious layer of meaning. To compliment it as being well-crafted, which it is, doesn’t mean much when it’s unwatchable.In spite of its generic title, “A Serbian Film,” directed by Srdjan Spasojevic, has already provoked scandal on the festival circuit and fascination from devotees of extreme cinema. I saw nothing in this mean-spirited film that I cared for. The unpleasant film gets over as a pseudo-snuff film that tries to take it as close to a real snuff film as possible. Rape, incest, murder and S&M are some of the anti-social acts filling out the narrative. It seems Milos got roped into making a snuff film. The condition is that he can’t look at the script. He gratefully accepts a lucrative offer to be in a new artistic experimental film by sleazy Balkan director/producer Vukmir ( Sergej Trifunovic ). The former porn star Milos ( Srdjan Todorovic), known as the “Nikola Tesla of world pornography,” is out of work and is having trouble supporting his wife and kids. The revolting delights it offers cross into areas that are far worse than just bad taste, like matters of criminality. Its perverse sex and violence left me feeling cold. The exploitation pic has no socially redeeming values, even if it half-heartedly, in an ironical manner, attempts to be a voice against the cruelties of the Balkan War in the 1990s. Srdjan Spasojevic (“The ABCs of Death”) is the writer-director of this extremely violent shocker-horror pic. “ To compliment it as being well-crafted, which it is, doesn’t mean much when it’s unwatchable.” A SERBIAN FILM (SRPSKI FILM) (director/writer: Srdjan Spasojevic screenwriter: Aleksandar Radivojevic cinematographer: Nemanja Jovanov editor: Darko Simic music: Sky Wikluh cast: Srdjan Todorovic (Milos), Sergej Trifunovic (Vukmir), Jelena Gavrilovic (Marija), Katarina Zutic (Lejla), Slobodan Bestic (Marko), Ana Sakic (Jecina Majka) Runtime: 104 MPAA Rating: NC-17 producer: Srdjan Spasojevic Invincible Pictures 2010)-Serbia- in Serbian with English subtitles) ![]()
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