A Serbian Film (2010)

• Tweet
• Email

• Tweet
• Email

Director Srdjan Spasojevic

Stars Srdjan Todorovic, Slobodan Bestic, Jelena Gavrilovic

Things You Might Like

• Beautifully shot
• Great performances all around
• Engaging plot

Things You Might Not Like

• The plot
• The director
• Anything at all

Conclusion
What a waste.

1 out of 5 Pointless Endeavours

Jonathan David Lim

***

It’s hard to understand who would find enjoyment out of A Serbian Film. Not simply because it’s dark and twisted (not unlike most of the films I review), but because it lacks any obvious point. It’s not done for cheap thrills, because the gore is comparatively mild to the current standard of horror cinema. And it’s not done for shock value, because it sits behind a wall of safety by way of clever editing and the use of CGI, both of which lower the bar for any sort of emotional connection to the characters or reaction to the events depicted. As far as I can understand, A Serbian Film only exists in order to exist. It is self-serving and pedantic. It is there because the director put it there, and if you don’t like it, fine. But if you do like it, that’s fine, too. I just don’t understand how you could.

Cinema has dealt with A Serbian Film‘s themes of necrophilia, paedophilia, and sexual violence before, and it has done it with much better care and respect. That, I think, is what’s most appalling about Spasojevic’s offering: not that he made an uncaring, unsympathetic film about an ageing pornstar (Milos, played by Srdjan Todorovic); but that he did so without any respect to the horror genre. Hell, I’ll go so far as to say Spasojevic has no respect for the medium, full-stop. Even the most notorious of filmmakers (e.g. Harmony Korine, Werner Herzog, Lars von Trier, Takashi Miike) have that sense of respect, that sense of passion. When we see their works, one gains a brief but palpable glimpse into their psyche. We know what the world means to them, because they put their interpretation of it in front of a lens and say, ‘This is it. This is life.’

Spasojevic, on the other hand, doesn’t care to show us his understanding of the world. He doesn’t care to reveal anything about himself, us, or the medium. Instead, he hopes to shove a middle finger into the faces of the critics and the people, but in so doing, fails horribly. He is like a young child in the centre of a crowd shouting as many obscenities as possible. We hear you, little boy, but your words mean nothing.

On the objective side of things, A Serbian Film is rather well made. It’s shot well, with beautiful framing, lighting, and sound. The actors, as far as I can tell, are capable. The plot is engaging, if you care enough about Milos, who has unwittingly landed the lead role in a snuff film that involves his brother Marko (Slobodan Bestic), wife Marija (Jelena Gavrilovic), and son Petar (the actor goes uncredited, for reasons I cannot begin to decipher). (That last sentence was a spoiler, by the way, but I don’t give a shit by this point.) Yet despite all of these high points, it’s hollow. There’s no life behind any of it. There is nothing beyond an irritated director who wanted to shock his audience into some kind of new understanding about what it means to live by-the-numbers. But in the end, it’s a useless, insipid waste of 35mm film.

NOTE: This film contains scenes and imagery that has led it to be banned in a number of countries. If you do ignore my warnings about just how bad it is, please check to make sure you won’t get in any kind of trouble for possessing the disc or having it on your harddrive.

Buy A Serbian Film from Amazon