Capsule - Space Station No. 9
Cannes 2012
Two Clips From Salles' ON THE ROAD
Peter Weller Is The New BATMAN
Tom Hardy In LAWLESS Clips
IFC Takes Wheatley's SIGHTSEERS
THE GREAT GATSBY Trailer
MEN IN BLACK 3 Review

DVD News

A SERBIAN FILM Shocks Its Way Into Australian Retail

by Kwenton Bellette, April 11, 2011 11:23 PM


, , ,
Accent Film brings to Australia one of the most controversial movies of the year. 

Surprisingly cleared by the OFLC, A Serbian Film is obviously R18+ and will be available to rent and buy this August.

A retired porn actor who desperately needs money in order to support his family  is lured by a 
reclusive millionaire and adult industry producer to give one last performance. So begins one of the most grueling descents into hell ever committed to film.

A Serbian Film marks a watershed moment in contemporary cinema. "Many movies have aimed to portray the darkest recesses of the human imagination, but few have gone as far as A Serbian Film" writes LA Weekly.

Like Gaspar Noe's Irreversible before it, A Serbian Film  showcases the singular artistic vision of a mighty new film making talent.

While A Serbian Film is known for its notoriety and graphic content, the film has also been praised for its significant artistic merit and indictment of the atrocities committed in Serbia's recent conflict.

And now it is unleashed on the general populace of OZ to 'enjoy'.

A-Serbian-Film-006.jpg


13 Comments

user-pic
by James Marsh, April 12, 2011 12:06 AM

So this version is completely uncut?

Reply
user-pic
Kwenton Bellette replied to comment from James Marsh, April 12, 2011 12:16 AM

Honestly, not sure, I would imagine so, in Australia it's OK for everything to be released R18+ or otherwise, except video games.

Reply
user-pic
by grimness, April 12, 2011 12:59 AM

Nope, cut.. to shreds probably.

http://www.classification.gov.au/www/cob/find.nsf/d853f429dd038ae1ca25759b0003557c/ac6b550c40d6cf80ca25786a005d728e?OpenDocument

Reply
user-pic
Kwenton Bellette replied to comment from grimness, April 12, 2011 1:01 AM

Boo! Also I feel dirty visiting that site now.

Reply
user-pic
by cinesimonj, April 12, 2011 1:25 AM

Uncut is 104 mi I believe, the UK cut was 95, this one says 96 - likely very similar to the UK version, given that for economic reasons the UK, AU and NZ censor boards collaborate quite a bit, from my experience.
The UK cut was fine. I know I missed one heavy scene and then just bits and pieces, as some scenes were shortened.
But overall, for a 'cut to shreds' film, it played very nicely. So to speak.
Didn't notice any bad editing at all, and given it is the twisted film it is, the storyline(such as it is) was certainly never affected, nor was the overall tone.

Reply
user-pic
Kwenton Bellette replied to comment from cinesimonj, April 12, 2011 1:29 AM

Thank you, beat me to it, just got confirmation that a few mins was cut, nothing major.

Reply
user-pic
Ard Vijn replied to comment from Kwenton Bellette, April 12, 2011 4:40 AM

Well, in my book "a few minutes" and "nothing major" do not appear in the same sentence. Sure, it's not like 30 minutes but neither is it 30 seconds.
Well-edited or not, eight or nine minutes on a 100 minute movie is still a pretty big chunk missing.

Reply
user-pic
cinesimonj replied to comment from cinesimonj, April 12, 2011 6:32 AM

Oh, absolutely.
But it's also still well worth seeing, especially if it's unlikely an uncut version will be available to punters in whichever region without having to make a special order and/or wait an extra few months.
In fact I reckon if it had been presented as uncut, at 95-ish minutes, it would still be received as warmly,badly,controversially, gleefully and with horror - what's more, I've no doubt that the 95 min 'uncut' film would get a trimming by censors. Because it's just that kind of film - it gets up the noses of such institutions.

Reply
user-pic
rawshark replied to comment from cinesimonj, April 12, 2011 8:57 AM

As the person who sat in on the BBFC-requested edit of A Serbian Film on behalf of the UK distributors - thanks for saying it was edited well.

Would just like to clarify the run time...

The theatrical version of the uncut film runs at just under 104 min. Revolver made cuts of 4 min 11 sec (slightly more than requested 3 min 50 sec) to ensure that the cuts were as clean and as unnoticeable as possible. The final classified theatrical run time is 99min 25 sec.

The video version has a shorter run time due to frame rates, but again 4min 11 sec was cut from that leaving a 'video' run time of 95 min 20 sec.

Reply
user-pic
by arturo, April 12, 2011 8:13 AM

I wonder if America will remake this film and call it An American Film??

Reply
user-pic
cinesimonj replied to comment from cinesimonj, April 12, 2011 8:24 AM

Well, all they'd need to do would be give De Niro's character in Machete a lead role... the hard-ons coming from killing & torturing immigrants and hooomoooosaxuaales instead of women

Reply
by Mark, August 17, 2011 2:51 PM

Kwenton, you're poorly misinformed. It is not OK in Australia for "everything to be released R18+". Where the hell did you hear that?

The Australian release is cut. The cuts amount to a great deal of actual explicit content.

Recently, even LA ZOMBIE was banned in Australia.

Reply
user-pic
Kwenton Bellette replied to comment from Mark, August 17, 2011 7:27 PM

I didn't say that, my recent review is a bit confusing, I saw the uncut one but it's out on DVD. Two very different parts there, will rectify.

Reply

Leave a comment

Twitch homepage
About Twitch | Advertise on Twitch | Contact Us | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Twitter | Facebook
All Twitch Headlines Reviews Videos Comments Add to Google
 
Full Site | Mobile Site
Related Posts with Thumbnails