It’s not easy to write a review of A Serbian Film.
Dropped from the London Frightfest because the Westminster Council did not allow an uncut version, shown at the Raindance festival in a private invitation-only screening, this film has been causing controversies since its very first showing in Austin, Texas, at the South by Southwest.
Now, an edited version with more than four minutes missing is going to hit the UK theaters, and the British Board of Film Classification has stated that the choice of cutting it was due to “elements of sexual violence that tend to eroticise or endorse sexual violence”.
Milo is an ageing porn star on the verge of retiring, but when he is tempted by one last job he can’t refuse the money he’s offered and takes part in what he thinks it’s an art film. He will soon discover that he got involved in a snuff movie and the consequences of his choice will be tragic.
A Serbian Film is undoubtely sickening and twisted, but it is also well done, with a clever camera work, bleak but effective stage-like settings, razor-sharp dialogues, intense and unpredictable plot-twists and a no-hope atmosphere that pervades the whole movie. Due to the difficult past of its country of origin, A Serbian Film can also be seen as an allegorical movie about the horrors of the civil war and of those dark and violent years, but it remains mainly an absolutely shocking movie. There is no need to describe or even to talk about some of the most disturbing and disgusting scenes ever seen on screen (seriously), suffices to say that if you go watching it because you think it’s another excessive marketing strategy, or the usual tecnique to attract people…well, A Serbian Film will hit you like a sledgehammer and this time you might really want to leave the screening.
