Review – A Serbian Film

14th January 2011

*** stars

Milos is a former porn star. But not just any porn star. He is “the best there ever was”. Now retired and living a quiet life with his beautiful wife and precocious young son, he spends his days drinking Jack and admiring his old films. A pleasant, yet underwhelming existence is also soured by money issues until an old friend brings Milos a proposition. Come out of retirement for one last big score and the money worries will be over. So far so heist movie. Expect the women bringing Milos the proposition fits into a PVC dress better than Marlon Brando could have done in The Score.

Enter the enigmatic producer/director of the piece Vukmir. An artist who greatly admires Milos’ talents and wants to utilize them to create an adult film of epic proportions. Agreeing to the job Milos descends into a nightmare world of mystery and depravity that makes Blue Velvet seem like An American Tale.

Currently available for viewing at indiemoviesonline.com (a fantastic site for some harder to find films), A Serbian Film is a must see for enthusiasts of extreme cinema. Don’t get me wrong that is not a glowing endorsement of the film itself, but when it comes to extreme cinema most of the fun comes from watching the boundaries being pushed and the gall of the filmmakers to put some of this stuff on screen. In short A Serbian Film probably will make even the most seasoned viewer wince a few times.

Having caused a storm in the festival circuit last year it hit the headlines in the UK after being cut by over 4 minutes. What may surprise some viewers is the craft with which the film is made director Srdjan Spasoievic is certainly not out to make a simple shock and splatter movie. Visually stark, filled with cold blues in contrast to the bright and seedy production of the porn movies shown within the film. Memories of 2008s Martyrs creep in now and then, mainly because of the mystery behind the purpose of the film itself.

Slow burning for the first half the film, we are given clues to the dark nature of Milos, his cop-brother and the director. Come the half way mark things hit the fan as it were. I thought about listing the horrendous gore, violence and sexual degradation involved but part of the films allure is the shock from these scenes as they happen. Awaking from a drug induced stupor Milos slowly uncovers the horrors he has been involved with. As he learns them we learn them. The audience feel the same revolution as he does. Although the film does feature scenes of sickening sexual violence they are dealt with in a way that we too are meant to feel repulsed. Whether or not that gives good reason to feature these scenes is where the wider debate comes into it and thats a debate that is better served for another discussion. Indeed, most of the cut the BBFC made were to eliminate most of the sexual violence (which was the primary reason Grotesque was banned two years ago).

Putting the violence to one side though; as Milos, Srdjan Todorovic wonders through the film world-weary and clueless to the mayhem. For many of the films darker elements he walks threw wide-eyed and unnerved, much like the audience. A main criticism would be to say that the relationship between Milos and his son never feels entirely convincing. As the director Sergej Trifunovic has the plum role. Always compelling when he is on camera, he brings a pantomime quality to the role which in some cases could be over-the-top but in a film as bleak as Serbian it comes as a welcome escape.

Director Srdjan Spasojevic has done a great job of turning a film which could easily have become shock exploitation in to something shock art-house. Whilst Spasojevic does try to give us meaning behind the horrors on show it becomes lost in the overall product. As though a quick explanation is reason enough to excuse away all the messed up shenanigans. But like I said people who will ultimately want to watch A Serbian Film are perhaps not concerned with solid metaphor – it essentially has to do with Serbia being a decadent, violent society, eating and defiling itself from within. As a film experience it will leave you feeling unclean, unrelentingly bleak it is a film that deserves to be seen just to witness the gall of the production. It is also an experience that does not live quite as well in memory as it does having just finished it. Like a roller coaster you will feel your heart race as it finishes but once you calm down the memories are not as enthralling.

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