Mr. Kotwicki reviews two of the most disturbing movies of the last decade.
In the new
millennia of exploitation horror films and the built-in audience with it, two
films would emerge from the Balkans which would shake the genre to its very
foundations and violently divide audiences forever. You can meet any gore-hound, any exploitation
cinema fan of movies that freely mix porn and grindhouse sleaze, and the moment
you mention Serbia, you are judged for crossing an unspoken line. What is it that makes a film like Cannibal Holocaust a classic in the
genre and something like A Serbian Film intolerable
and completely unworthy of consideration?
As an open minded film buff who will try anything and attempt to find
validity in the most corrosive annals of celluloid, I would like to think
there’s more going on upstairs in both A
Serbian Film and its loosely connected kid-cousin The Life and Death of a Porno Gang.
While art is in the eye of the beholder, I think it’s unfair to simply
write them off as puerile and nothing more.
In this short article, I’ll attempt to purvey both movies and analyze,
more or less, their mutual artistic successes and overall commentary on the
nature of Serbian poverty.
The Life and Death of a Porno
Gang (2009 – written and directed by Mladen Djordjevic) 8/10
The first of two nuclear bombs to
good taste and a work of pure transgression, The Life and Death of a Porno Gang follows Marko, a young art
filmmaker who finds his voice in sexual politics against Serbia’s state of
affairs through satirical porn. After a
row with his producer, Marko forms a porno cabaret and hits the stage
theater. When that fails, he begins a
new sojourn through Serbia on what looks very like a dirty Mystery Bus from Scooby Doo. Struggling to survive as the band leaves
Belgrade and purveys the Serbian countryside they find themselves at the mercy
of irate villagers, hallucinogens and a German journalist who offers a job of
making snuff films of violent, bloody deaths.
Shot on low grade handheld DV with a guerilla sensibility, Porno Gang is a curious black comedy
that commits several real transgressions on camera (unsimulated sex including
bestiality) while maintaining a sharp sense of narrative storytelling. It’s the gross-out exploitation shocker you
can show to fans of highbrow cinema and get more laughs than you’d anticipate. Compared by some to John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus, it’s an omnisexual art porn
flick with real characters that are fully realized and a genuine story people
can relate to. No one wants destitution,
and amid the orgiastic spectacles enacted by the group, there’s a real sense of
family among these misfits.
 |
| "Hi. We're the leftovers from the '90s music video shoot. Wanna screw?" |
Porno Gang also makes great use of
location, with many long shots of the Serbian countryside seen through rain
covered windows of the porno bus.
Depicting something of a wasteland, there’s a startling degree of
poverty of the Balkan landscape never seen before. Porno Gang more or less successfully
conveys a sense of desperation with people resorting to any means necessary to
put food on the table. Though it breaks
many boundaries which some will attest should have been faked, it’s a brilliant
dark comedy of survival in a desolate wasteland and a sympathetic look at the
lives swept up in the wake. Not for
everyone, those reading this review should know full well to proceed with
caution before subjecting themselves to an onslaught of shock and awe. It is also one of the funniest gross-out
comedies in recent memory with a poignant take on the disintegration of the
Serbian family.
A Serbian Film (2010 – written
and directed by Srdjan Spasojevic) 7/10
World famous porn star Milos (Srdjan
Todorovic) is at the end of his rope.
After retiring from the porn industry to settle down with his wife and 6
year old son, he finds his pension funds drying up for his son’s
education. An offers arises from Lejla, a
former porn co-star, to make one more adult film for a price. Introduced to Vukmir (Sergej Trifunovic), an eccentric
entrepreneur planning the ultimate artistic adult film, Milos is told the role
will secure his assets for life. With
the job comes one small provision: Milos is not to read the screenplay prior to
filming. Reluctantly accepting the
offer, A Serbian Film shifts gears
and wilfully proceeds to forever change the way Milos (and we) look at the
movies. It’s all downhill from there.
Understandably,
A Serbian Film was immediately
lambasted as nothing more than child pornography for its two scenes of graphic
child rape. That’s not excluding its
tidal wave of taboo imagery and endless sexual violence exploding in the
viewer’s face as Milos’ world descends deeper into the pit. A lightning rod of controversy, it was banned
and censored across the world over. After
a screening at the Sitges Film Festival in Spain, the festival’s exhibitor was
charged (and eventually acquitted) with screening child pornography, resulting
in several censored versions before becoming an internet sensation with free
access to the uncut version by downloading it illegally. Comparisons between itself and The Human Centipede were instantly drawn
for being a penultimate gross-out movie.
The immediate impact upon viewers also has the tendency to overshadow
its virtues.
For all intents and purposes, A Serbian Film is a truly devilish dark
comedy which follows through to its logical end while satirizing its own unbridled
sensationalism. It’s most telling scene
involves the hapless Milos leaping through a glass window, and Vukmir remarks
‘Our film just jumped out the window!’ No
kidding. Even before Hell breaks loose,
there’s a morbid sense of humor about the negative effects of film on children,
and how it can age them faster than we know how to deal with. To say the film is poorly made simply isn’t
true. For a cinematic parade of
unthinkable atrocities, it’s lensed with the cold precision of David Cronenberg
with stellar performances by some of Serbia’s top actors. Todorovic himself was a former drummer in a
band, and there’s a clever aside where he enters his basement and a full drum
set can be seen. Let’s not forget its Fight Club electronic score of dubstep
and hard industrial noise.
 |
| "How many times do I have to tell you?!!! No onions on my salad!!!" |
More or less, A Serbian Film essentially retells the same story as its lower
budget counterpart, The Life and Death of
a Porno Gang. While the argument
could be made Milos is a victimizer, Ultimately he is a victim of
circumstance. The problem is A Serbian Film tends to lose itself in
its relentless pursuit of transcendent transgression. Not a film one can easily recommend (if at
all), other than fulfilling viewer desire in seeing where the invisible line is
drawn. While its writer-director Srdjan
Spasojevic showcases all the wit and brilliance of Cronenberg both here and in
his contribution to The ABCs of Death,
beyond the immediate shock its ultimate aim to point a spotlight on Serbian
poverty is mildly successful. Mostly
it’s remembered as a real serious kick in the crotch that will hurt for days.
-Andrew Kotwicki