A SERBIAN FILM
This is a film that I heard about but only recently. A friend of mine attended the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal and told me about this film (which was a part of the "Subversive Serbia" panel of films), how it affected him/her and made him/her truly upset; hard time sleeping, etc. So of course, I very much wanted to see this film. Said person sent me a link to a screener copy, I downloaded it, didn't watch it right away, didn't forget about it, just wanted to wait until I was in the mood to watch something that one reviewer described as..."tragic, sickening, disturbing, twisted, absurd, infuriated, and actually quite intelligent. There are those who will be unable (or unwilling) to decipher even the most basic of' messages' buried within A Serbian Film, but I believe it's one of the most legitimately fascinating films I've ever seen. I admire and detest it at the same time. And I will never watch it again. Ever."
Fair enough.
I agree with this man, Scott Weinberg from Fear.net, on only one avenue: "I will never watch it again. Ever."
Words to describe A Serbian Film: Goofy. Boring. Predictable. Plodding. Is 'Newborn Porn' supposed to be shocking? Movies like these are a dime a dozen, unfortunately. Some director trying to outdo all the other fuckos who tried and maybe failed at making "mainstream", "ultra-violence" "art"-shock-schlock-pornography that supposedly contains some bold, foreboding message that I'm usually too amped/bored to truly consider. The movie isn't bad, per se, it just doesn't deserve nearly as much hype as it's received, positive or negative. The trailer is better than the movie.
To continue: Perhaps I'm just way too jaded. Of the people who have seen this movie, I honestly ask...did you not see the ending coming from the get go?
But I guess that's not really the point: Screenwriter Srdjan Spasojevic has responded to the controversy with "This is a diary of our own molestation by the Serbian government...It's about the monolithic power of leaders who hypnotize you to do things you don’t want to do. You have to feel the violence to know what it’s about."
So, there's a message to this? Well, perhaps I felt nothing because I know nothing of the Serbian government? That must be it...
I'm not saying I didn't enjoy certain aspects of the film, which is to say, I'm not saying that I sat glassy-eyed throughout the entire 1:26:39 runtime of the film. There was some pretty great gore, particularly towards the end during the wholly predictable "A Traditional Serbian Family" setup. I can see why people would be shocked, where they would be shocked, but unfortunately I was just prompted into indifference somewhere along the line.
Things I liked: The kid (adorable), a girl named Laylah (I like the spelling), face punch towards the end (I laughed), eye socket breaching (I laughed), the creepy uncle (I found him maybe attractive?), the end credit/trailer music (I bobbed my head)...
"Movies can use transgressive topics and imagery toward great artistic resonance. They can also just use them for pure shock/novelty/boundary-pushing, which is where I'd group Serbian Film. That it comes from a country that's spent decades deep in violent conflict, civil unrest, corruption and ethnic tensions makes it tempting to read more into the film than I think it actually offers—ultimately, it has as much to say about its country of origin as Hostel does about America, which is a little, but nothing on the scale its title suggests." Alison Willmore posted this on IFC.com.
I completely agree with this.
Another thing this friend of mine mentioned was that the film "glamorizes and sensationalizes very real rape and abuse" and that "there's a line you shouldn't cross in order not to alienate women on a whole and they did just that." Then, because of my initial interest in the film, he/she asked if I "enjoy watching your fellow woman be humiliated?".
Food for thought.
Well, I think this is the least glamorous depiction of rape and torture I've seen in a long while but you're always gonna get a few bad apples who get their rocks off and ejaculate on the back of your seat while watching this type of shit (Baise Moi at the Mayfair Theater many years ago, older dude in a leather trench coat, the back of my seat was something like a glazed donut at the end of the film). I didn't get off on their abuse but didn't give much of a shit whether they were men or women, boys or girls, I didn't see it like that (didn't care to? Yup, jaded). I didn't really pick up on the women-as-victims thing, even though a great majority of the victims were women. Maybe I just didn't care? Pretty much every horror movie has a chick taking a long, soapy shower and then a knife plunges her in the tits, 99.9% of the time the attacker is a male human or a male inhuman...I just don't care anymore. After spending years reading, studying the male gaze, Laura Mulvey essays and what not, maybe I just don't give a good goddamn.
If anything, I was alienated by the lack of suspense. I didn't care much about Milos' imminent fate, I didn't much care for what would happen to the slew of junkies, prostitutes, and bad moms. I basically knew what was going to happen in the first five minutes, so I quickly got over what was eventually going to befall upon the "innocents". You just gotta think:
1) this director wants to push boundaries and buttons. Get people to notice him and his first feature film for whatever reasons he may have.
2) it's a Central European dramatic-horror-thriller-art-etc film from a particularly unstable country, politically-economically speaking, ∴ it will undoubtedly be a bleak affair, conflict heavy, and it will maybe (try to) have something powerful to say about the poor demographic conditions of the area in question - a generalization? Oh, most probably. I honestly can't say I know too much on the matter, as I briefly stated previously. I'm really just going on what I've come to expect from [post] war-torn countries that are slowly attempting to pick up the delicate pieces of what's left, trying to bridge healthy communications to outlying areas, where simple services we North Americans take for granted are seen as luxury or not immediately within grasp for a good majority of the populace - all of this filmically speaking, of course).
3) the trailer looked fucked up, ipso facto, the film will be fucked up.
So with these things in mind, you get over it. Fast. Especially when you're watching a movie this thin, this agonizingly lacking at certain points, when you're following a character so idiotic that you just want to smack him sometimes (but he'd probably like it - side note: where can I get that awesome sex drug? Does anyone know if it exists?)
The last 15 mins. or so of Audition, a few scenes in A L'Interieur, the curb stomp scene in American History X...THAT'S gross.
In my opinion.
