Not that I don’t think there is value in shock, but sometimes subtler moviemaking is better.
#A serbian film reviews movie
I’ve seen both the uncut, and four minute shorter uncut versions, and I prefer the cut version, because I’m a strong believer in how the imagination of the viewer is the best friend a movie director can have. One thing I agree with Glenn on is that the one scene in particular is clearly there for shock value. There is a very small group of which I and my pal Glenn Miller ( check out his excellent blog) are settled into: those who actually have seen it, and who consider it a pretty good horror movie. Then you have the other camp who essentially justify the opinions of the first camp: those who can’t wait to see it because of the movie’s content. When you read the various comments online about people who have or haven’t watched it, there are two clear camps: those who have not seen it and condemn it outright, and to them, anyone who’s interested in seeing it are as sick as those who made it. I don’t often review movies older than a couple of years, but this is an exception. If you’ve heard of the movie, you’ve also heard of that scene, and you may have already made up your mind about it and decided not to see it – which would be a shame, because it’s a truly effective, character-driven horror movie. I’m willing to bet that just like those other movies, A Serbian Film is also one the most vilified horror movies that’s actually never been seen by its harshest critics. Other generations had Salo, Cannibal Holocaust, and The Men Behind The Sun, and A Serbian Film, made in 2011, joins the club of horror movies with scenes that are so extreme they come to define the movie itself. Does that say something? I mean, how many Serbian films can you name? I think that means something and I think that they did their job, it's just at the expense of your lunch.It’s fair to say that A Serbian Film is the most vilified horror movie of our generation. In a Freddy Got Fingered kind of way, people are still talking about it. Acting in one of those stupid movies probably results in the same depressed feeling you get in watching A Serbian Film. They want to be known, to act with incredible actors and directors all over the world, but because of their location, they're stuck doing movies that are only known in their own country, having to do soul sucking, depressing films. It can also be seen as a statement on the actors who act in these films. The directors of A Serbian Film were not fans of their countries output, relating it to a general cultural cringe. Australia has some great films, sure, you could probably name about 5 really good ones, but most of them are hokey slice of life comedy films with a quota for the amount of rural towns you display. They don't result in films that you can really be proud of.
You've got to go through layers of bureaucracy to get funding from the government, and they only really allow crowd pleasing, brainless comedies. We all know the fucked up parts, and the overall plot, but you've gotta look at it from the perspective and as a critique of a small countries movie industry. What do you think? Is A Serbian Film a “good” film, is it worth watching? Or is it just shock value with a “porn industry and humanity is bad” undertone thrown in to provide semblances of plot? It seems like all I can find online is people saying it is shock for shocks sake, or on the flip side that its good -because- it’s shocking and disturbing, which doesn’t appeal to me but to each his own. I want to watch A Serbian Film, but only if it has that same (albeit presented in its own aesthetic) purpose or quality. It’s aesthetically pleasing in many different aspects and I feel that the execution of the film and its artistry has a purpose outside of the voyeuristic shock and degradation. That doesn’t appeal much to me in and of itself but I can and do appreciate controversial and shocking art if it holds value outside of that and isn’t just shock for shocks sake.ġ00 Days Of Sodom, for example, is a very beautiful film. I’ve managed to pick up the plot synopsis from here and there, I know the disturbing things that happen. I’ve been hearing about this movie for years, as you all know it’s always atop lists of “most controversial”, “most disturbing” “scariest” movie lists.