A Serbian Film (2010)

A Serbian Film (2010)
aka Srpski Film
Director: Srdjan Spasojevic
Writers: Aleksandar Radivojevic, Srdjan Spasojevic
Cast: Srdjan Todorovic, Sergej Trifunovic, Jelena Gavrilovic
An aging porn star agrees to participate in an "art film" in order to make a clean break from the business, only to discover that he has been drafted into making a pedophilia and necrophilia themed snuff film.
IMDB Page
For the first time in cultdb's/my own film viewing history I am going to put out a kind of disclaimer to people, to quote the film 8mm "There are some things that you see, and you can't unsee"
!!! PLEASE BE EXTREMELY CAUTIOUS
BEFORE VIEWING THIS FILM !!!
[Right so I had heard the online hype surrounding this film for a while. I've even had it here gathering dust for a few months not feeling in the mood for a dark movie to spoil my summer. So time come to watch it, So I can handle this right ? .... errr well I did but it was an extremely painful hollow viewing experience. Over the years I've seen pretty much everything and anything I could lay my hands on. I think during your teens you watch gore/extreme horror films to test yourself (kinda rites of passage to see if you are man enough)... So I've seen all the UK banned video nasties including the mondo docu's the cannibal films & nazisploitation ones. Since then I've seen Pasolini's Salo, absolute bucket loads of Asian sex/gore movies by the likes of Hisayasu Sato & Daisuke Yamanouchi, heaps of newer American sexualized gore films like the August Underground series and more recent hard edged European fodder by the likes of Agusti Villaronga, Gaspar Noe, Philippe Grandrieux, Catherine Breillat & Pascal Laugier.]

All of which only part way prepared me for A Serbian Film. The plot follows a semi retired pornstar Milos who via a fellow porn actress gets introduced to Vukmir. He offerers Milos the opportunity to earn big money for doing one more secretive movie performance that would see him, wife and son financially secure for the rest of their lives. Things start to spiral out of control for the actor when the director starts introducing torture into the sex and insists on having a teenage girl watch. Milos refuses to continue working with the twisted Vukmir who clearly as lost all faith in humanity, the director tries to convince Milos by giving him a private screening of what must be the most taboo breaking clip I or I would imagine anyone viewing has ever seen (at this point I was going to switch the film off like I'd suspect most viewers would, I'm sure loads walked out of screenings after or during it). Milos is like mindedly sickened and walks away, only Vukmir needs to finish his film so with the aid of an attrctive doctor drugs poor Milos into doing ever more sickening and degrading things ultimately leading back to the now unhinged hallucinating porn actors family.

The soundtrack was droney and worked well also the cast and crew did a good job as did the cinematographer. Some viewers have stated it's got a political subtext, I am not so sure I suspect it was made to sicken and horrify. And dare I say cash in a little on the recent torture/horror market with films like Martyrs & Grotesque earning good money. I'm not going to say its good or bad, for me it fell somewhere between. Sure you can call that a cop out but it's so hard to judge the merits of a film that makes you feel so empty and touches the pit of your stomach, and in no way rewards you.

(7 out of 10)

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