Home Video Hovel- A Serbian Film

It would be nice – and maybe even more professional – to write a review of Srđan Spasojević’s A Serbian Film without referencing the controversy surrounding it. To engage only with the film itself and analyze solely that which is contained within its running time would perhaps be the more respectable thing to do. Unfortunately, though, I’ve watched A Serbian Film and have discovered there’s not much else worth discussing.

For the unaware, the controversial reactions to the film are, generally, based around the many graphically and sexually violent scenarios and images and, specifically, focused on two scenes depicting the rape of a newborn and, later, a young child. For the record, the version being released in the U.S. on DVD and which I am reviewing here contains edits in both of those scenes. Due to said edits, these particular scenes are more excruciating in what they imply than what they show. Still, the film contains plenty of other explicitly portrayed images to horrify and upset the viewer.

One of the most disturbing films ever made is John McNaughton’s Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. While that film is, in total, less gruesome and gory than A Serbian Film, it works, wonderfully and disgustingly, because it is so well-made and transformative a work of art. Spasojević’s movie, despite its admittedly inventive shock and brutality, lacks that well-crafted frame on which to hang its outrageousness. Divorced from any sympathetic context, the things that happen here come dangerously close to being just plain silly.

The story is that of Miloš, a legendary porn star now living with his wife and son in an early retirement he took not due to financial success but moral weariness. Still in need of money to get by, he is approached by an eccentric porn director offering an astronomical sum to star in one last film. From that point on, he is forced deeper and deeper into the director’s vision and made to do things he wouldn’t have thought himself capable of.

Spasojević makes clear early on his intention to create an “arthouse” film in the least considered, most superficial way. There are so many long takes of Miloš sitting and smoking in silence and so many scenes of semi-cryptic, ominous-sounding conversations that you start to wonder if the director is padding the run time, stretching things out to feature length so that the only stuff he’s really interested in shooting has a legitimate home. Eventually, you may find yourself clamoring for more atrocities to behold just to break the tedium. Then again, perhaps this was Spasojević’s intention all along, to lull you into becoming the willing masochist to his smirking sadist.

Hurting the art film aspirations, though, is the overall look and feel. Maybe it’s the nature of culture in a post-war nation but the film’s aesthetic seems slightly dated. The lead character’s hair and wardrobe and the tackily appointed mini mansion the film’s villain occupies all seem to have sprung from a 1990’s made-for-cable thriller. If this is a commentary on the cultural lag of a somewhat recently war-ravaged nation, it’s an interesting one but there’s no sign that it’s intentional.

Cultural commentary as it does exist in the film is what its makers and defenders lean on when discussing it. They say it’s about the self-destructive nature of a country rushing headlong to catch up with the first world. Spasojević himself has said it’s a reaction against “the cinematic fascism of political correctness.” These interpretations along with many others are exactly right. That’s the sole redeeming aspect here. This movie is most assuredly saying something. Problematically, though, it’s saying it in such broad and juvenile terms that it’s difficult to take seriously, like a teenager who’s just discovered the Dead Kennedys. A Serbian Film is a number of things. It’s a social satire. It’s a contemplative think-piece. It’s a psychosexual brand of body horror. Unfortunately, it’s just not very good at being any of them.

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9 Responses

  1. Patrick says:

    Tyler,
    Thank you for watching this film, so I won’t have to.
    I occasionally get in the mood to watch strange films that are considered “edgy” but this crosses to many of my lines. Glad to know I’m not missing a masterpiece.

  2. DJ says:

    I CAN’T BELIEVE ONE OF YOU GUYS ACTUALLY WATCHED THIS! I think this article is right on the mark. Very interesting and objective view. Thanks!

  3. Matt Warren says:

    Can I borrow your guys’s screener of this? I don’t even know if I’m joking or not.

  4. Battleship Pretension says:

    Yeah, you can borrow it. But I seriously need to get it back from you.

    Not sure if I’m joking or not, either.

    – David

  5. whatever says:

    “They say it’s about the self-destructive nature of a country rushing headlong to catch up with the first world.”

    That’s a very interesting interpretation of the director’s statements but completely incorrect .

    • Battleship Pretension says:

      The way you state that makes me think you’re more interested in disagreeing with me than in discussing anything but I hope I’m just reading it wrong. I’m open to the idea that I’ve misinterpreted the words of Spasojević and his defenders. For the record, though, I’m referring to statements from the director like this (from the film’s official UK website): “Serbia is merely a reflection of the ways of today’s New World in general, as it tries to imitate it and fails miserably.”

      – David

      • whatever says:

        I know which quote you were referring to but it is not quite the meaning the director was going for . “Self-destructive nature” is not the term the director would use for example .

        Your criticisms of the movie are very justifiable however . Your observations about boredom etc.

        This movie is a result of a deep dissatisfaction with postwar capitalist society and Serbian cinema . This is the reason for the film within a film . Vukmir is based on a well known director in Serbia and the horrors are intended to show the “terror of political correctness.” Spasojevic and Radivojevic are tired of what they call Red Cross movies , movies about war criminals and victims and other such type of politically correct films which they see as being sponsored by the EU and other western states .

        This film is intentionally bad as it is a big middle finger to the Serbian film industry and government . It is essentially a parody . You can read the wikipedia talk page to find out more .

        Now whether it is good or bad in terms of horror or action thriller i really have no opinion on the matter just informing what it is all about .

        • Battleship Pretension says:

          Thanks for responding.

          I like your points but I think that making an intentionally bad film is a risky undertaking no matter what one is trying to achieve.

          And I still think the effects of trying to imitate the New World and failing miserably could be described as self-destructive.

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