Review of A Serbian Film (2010) by Jamie J — 07 Jan 2011

Already 'A Serbian Film' is whipping up a media storm, creating the sort of frenzy that money cannot buy. You would think that the press would realise by now that there is no such thing as bad publicity. You can call someone a cunt in the press one day, but the populace wil still rush out and buy his new biography the next to see what all the fuss is about.

A Serbian Film is a tough one to call though, one the one hand you have the extremely dark subject matter, and the hideous imagery that will stick in your brain for days. And on the other you have some extremely good film making, great acting and an electronic soundtrack that will seep into the nether regions of your soul. Of course most people will simply see A Serbian Film, feel sick and then rant about it on the internet, and while I can't really condone such use of horrific imagery in film, I'm not getting paid to uphold any moral subtext-well I'm not getting paid at all for this.

If the film doesn't make you feel at least a little queasy in places then there is probably something wrong with you anyway, but if it makes you question things a little more, if it makes you think about just how fucked up the world can be at times then it will be serving its purpose a lot better than The Daily Mail would have you belive.

The best way I can describe A Serbian Film is perhaps Hostel mixed in with Boogie Nights, with a bit of Eastern European ballsy film making. If you have the stomach for it, then by all means check out probably one of the most controversial and downright shocking films in recent years.

Not for the faint of heart mind, but then if you are reading this then you have probably seen it anyway ;).