A Serbian Film..NEVER WATCH THIS FILM!! EVER.

Ryan Patrick O'Hara said:
Yes! I have laughed, cried, screamed, gasped, and cheered at dozens of films PG-13/R.

Just as an interesting person doesn't have to scream to get my attention, I don't need blatant shock-value to feel emotion, distress, or disgust. I can watch Schindler's List by Steven Speilberg, and feel the horrors of the Holocaust. I can watch A Clock-Work Orange by Stanely Kubrick and feel the reckless ultra-violent state of man. I will always cry when the Emperor Returns to his throne at the end of The Last Emperor, by Berdardo Bertolucci. I will always squirm in my seat when Blacky makes Steak choose between killing two children in City Of God by Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund. I still get anxiety watching the inhumane and sick game of russian roulette forced upon American GI's by Cambodian prison guards in The Deer Hunter, by Michael Cimino. Or how after I've been exhausted by a long and exciting movie filled with the most horrific crimes, my heart sinks when Brad Pitt's character screams over and over "What's in the box?!" from the movie Se7en by David Fincher.

I'm not saying horrific material should not exist, nor do I argue one's right to make it. I do argue that a talented story teller can make you feel the very heights of emotion without having to resort to shock-value filmmaking.

You want to see a movie that deals with incest? Watch Chinatown, The War Game, Old Boy, etc. You want to see a movie that will shatter your soul? Schindler's List. Want to see rape and death? Dead Man Walking. Hate and Violence? Watch American History X. Modern films rated pg-13 and R cover the darkest material imaginable. Film has always portrayed the best and worst of humanity. All that a film like A Serbian Film seems to do is nothing more than try to turn heads toward a film that couldn't stand on it's own.

Of course it is kicking up a storm... that was it's only purpose from the start. Ride the shock-value rocket to the top. I watched human centipede, and it was by far the worst movie ever. It's success is purely on its excess. It's a cheap formula, and it works. Sadly you've got to be worse than the person before you, so I doubt we've seen the last of it.
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Jawa Ex Machina said:
I would have to strongly disagree with this.
Either everything is okay, or nothing is.

Once you start drawing lines and making distinctions, there's really nothing that can be said anymore.

The fact that this film is kicking up a storm shows its effectiveness.
You want watered down PG13 studio crap or something that will actually affect you emotionally?

This is especially important for us independent filmmakers that are working on low-to-microbudgets.
We might not have the ability to always go out and get A-list talent, or create super budget SFX, but the one thing we CAN do to sepparate ourselves from any established studio or mainstream system is content. We can do ANYTHING contentwise because our budgets and our production workflow gives us that freedom.

So when it comes to violent films and horror films, any independent filmmaker HAS to break the rules of what's proper and decent.
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How about breaking the rules by having a great script, great acting and an original concept....I guess it's easier to just be shocking. BTW...I like unsettling work. It has to have a freaking point though. Also I meant that each individual has to decide what kind of stuff they will or won't do...it's called vision and artistic integrity...hence the lines being drawn. There are things that EVERYONE has that they are not into...so why film them...let the person that IS into it film it. I'm sur there are things that you don't like ....PG13 perhaps.
 
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