A Serbian Film

There is no big controversy here, and no Balkan video to shock conservative viewers. Rather, the film is a cruel bore in the regime of a better amateur snuff film. In its desire to explicitly depict everything that involves the main character's dick, it actually brings about so much that, next to this, the French film Martyrs seems like an elaborate horror epic worthy of textbooks. There are three questions in my head: a) what is wrong with the director, b) what did the actors think during the filming, and c) what's the point? I don't have a satisfactory answer to any of those questions. It’s shit that is not even worthy of the increased attention it has received, let alone a better review. PS: The ending is a parody of itself, in the style of the bloody geysers of Peter Jackson's first films. For real. :-) (04/08/2010)

"A Serbian Film is not only shocking, but above all unsettling." I copied this sentence from the film description, because I can't agree with it. What was supposed to shock me about that? I don't live in a vacuum and I wasn't shocked even by Fifty Shades of Gray, so ... I was unsettled, but for the same reason as with most crappy romantic comedies - I don't understand where such films get funding. I was partly annoyed, partly bored and without the FFW button on the remote, I probably wouldn't have managed to make it to the end. I’m not the least bit surprised that the Human Centipede is listed among similar films, the list should also include Human Nature. (02/01/2020)

In the end, this is a no-go. The atmosphere, however, becomes increasingly intense on its own, the rough scenes aren't disturbing despite occasional hyper-vomiting, and the actors perform their parts even in situations where I would certainly expect numerous moments of embarrassing overacting. And when the audiovisual form is entertaining and the unsettling mood begins to cautiously hint at a dark ending, then it happens. A final twenty minutes of bloody frenzy where I was expecting catharsis, but only got an embarrassing self-parody. Srdjan Spasojevič, like a little child, tears down his carefully constructed structure made of building blocks in an outburst of rage. Considering that A Serbian Film is probably one of a kind in this format, it's actually quite a pity. (30/08/2012)

Snuff with a plot; snuff in the robes of ancient tragedy. Strong, well acted, escalates like little else, surprisingly completely non-amateurish, flawlessly crafted, but still I would never recommend it to anyone. Never. Just as I know for sure I'll never watch it again. Never. In essence it is completely unevaluable because every few minutes it oscillates along the entire assessment scale from genuine enthusiasm, to self-disgust, contempt for the filmmakers, to the declaration of war on Serbia... P.S.: This was beautifully put by Tim Anderson of “Bloody Disgusting": “You don’t want to see A Serbian Film. You just think you do." (25/07/2010)

I don’t usually give the “Boo!” rating to formally well-made films with A-list actors. When this happens, it must be a film that undermines itself in some extreme manner and does everything to prevent me from perceiving it as anything else but garbage. Srpski film addresses similar topics as Joel Schumacher’s 8MM – human psychology under the destructive influence of extreme porn and breaking of the worst taboos. Unlike 8MM, which is a suspenseful psychological thriller, cautious in dealing with these sensitive topics, Srpski film relishes in delivering them in a straightforward and vulgarly self-serving fashion, proudly considering that to be its biggest strength. A masterpiece in cinematic materialization of social retardation. (02/01/2011)