The easiest way to avoid making a horror film that critics will decry for blurring the line between violence and sexuality, is to make the central plot about sexuality and then just introduce some brutality. How is that better? When a horror film flashes some skin before it slashes a girl to pieces, the association is unconscious. With A Serbian Film, whose entire plot is about a porn star roped into an ultra-violent but mysterious gig, there’s no question as to the film’s sexual nature. It’s the violence that then becomes the variable. Which is why A Serbian Film is more a softcore porn with a remarkably sound plot than it is a horror film that straddles the line between porn and torture porn. It may be a metaphor for the Serbian government’s treatment of its citizens and the way it forces ambiguous laws upon them only to reveal them as somewhat sadistic in nature, but it’s also a surprisingly concise little film that boasts as much blood and violence as it does mindless sex. What appeals to you more, the message or the masochism?
If you’re looking for a porno by Milos, the most recent one you’ll find sees him in younger form and at the top of his game, ravaging young women in a way that made him an audience favorite. Now he raises a son with his wife Maria, living a quiet life with his porno days nothing but a video-preserved memory. Or so Milos thought. When a former associate puts him on the radar of a producer with aspirations to making the biggest statement the world of erotic art and film has ever seen. Milos agrees to take the job without knowing any of the particulars, but having seen a check with enough zeros to give his family all the financial security it needs. However, as the filming progresses, Milos begins to realize that that financial security may have come at the cost of something much dearer. The scenes become increasingly perverse and violent, and before long Milos is crossing ethical lines that push his sanity to the edge. Can he escape from this psychotic contract, or will this be his final film?
A Serbian Film’s production values are remarkably high and for a film with such a crude premise, it’s rather well-written and acted. The violence, sexuality, and everything else clearly excludes most people as part of its potential audience, but those enough with a strong enough stomach and the proper resolve will find a taut thriller when all of the truly grotesque set pieces have wound down.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
None.
"A Serbian Film" is on sale October 25, 2011 and is rated NC17. Drama, Horror, Thriller. Directed by Srdjan Spasojevic. Written by Srdjan Spasojevic, Aleksandr Radivojevic. Starring Srdjan Todorovic, Sergej Trifunovic, Jelena Gavrilovic.
