Life and Death of a Porno Gang… Is from Serbia, not a Serbian Film

by on September 18, 2012  •  In Articles, Reviews

After a very long wait for distribution, Life and Death of a Porno Gang gets it’s much anticipated DVD/Blue Ray release (at least for me anyway). I’ve been hearing left and right about how this film is the ‘NEXT SERBIAN FILM, MORE SICK THAN SERBIAN FILM, JUST LIKE SERBIAN FILM’ blah blah blah. Ok, I get it, it’s a movie from Serbia, it’s about snuff, there’s porno stuff, ect… But let’s get real folks, this movie is a pretty far cry from the now cult classic “SERBIAN FILM”. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked Serbian Film, but it was just too…. How do I put this… Overblown perhaps? Maybe a bit too outlandish for reality? Meh, who cares, it was good and I’ll leave it at that and move to greener pastures because we’ve all heard about it and I have no desire to drag on and on over it.

Now that I’ve got that out of the way, let’s chat about how much I truly LOVE “Life and Death of a Porno Gang”. This, to me, is one fantastic piece of dramatic cinema and one of the best pseudo snuff films to come out (at least on dvd) this year. But don’t let that word “snuff” get to you, because this isn’t just sick shit happening on the screen the whole time. Not that I don’t like sick shit happening on the screen the whole time, it’s just more fun when you truly love and identify with the characters. I could picture some of the characters as my actual friends and acquaintances I’ve met in my life! The stylish and colorful nature of the “porno band” is something that really got to me. Kinda like porno hippies rolling around Serbia…. Heh.

I figure I better give a little background, even though I don’t care to write out stories much, but I feel you should get a better understanding than what most of the asshats that review this film as “SERBIAN FILM NUMBER TWO”, because it’s not and you shouldn’t think it is. The story centers around a struggling film artist that’s itching to make something special (I think most of you can identify with this) named Marko. It starts out in a kind of documentary of his life around the time of the revolution in Serbia (circa 1999-2000) as Slobodan Milosevic was overthrown. So it’s kind of a look into the eyes of someone that was in Belgrade when shit hit the fan, so to say. Marko spins a great tale as he tries to move into the movie world and inevitably gets pulled into the porn industry instead. His inevitable link with porn ends up leading the artistic genius in him to try something a bit outlandish that puts him in some hot water and also leads to the formation of his “Porno Band”. How things transpire from this point, and leads them to snuff films, is something you’re going to have to find out on your own, because YOU SHOULD. The story actually gives a bit more  realism about the Serbs and what happened during the wars over there. I know that most westerners don’t have a whole lot of information about the conflict and this gives a bit more depth to the actual people of Serbia. It might even give you a reason to look into it!

Now that you get a bit of an idea of Marko, you’ll have a better understanding of why this movie is something special on it’s own. I just love Marko’s character and the people he brings into his circle (all the characters are grand). There’s comedy, sickness, style and sex just overflowing in this flick. I guess some folks think it’s super disgusting because there are moments of homosexuality, but get into the fucking 2000′s people, who cares about what somebody does sexually with someone else. If you can’t handle it, don’t watch it, but you’ll be missing something fun. I guess that sort of stuff just doesn’t bother me at all. The “snuff” aspect of the film isn’t as brutal as some other films, but I honestly don’t think that is what it was about in the first place. It’s rather that this is a look into the life of some crazy kids just going around and doing drugs and getting into shit a bit deeper than they had expected. I know that the people who made this film had a political message to convey, and it works, but I look at it as more of an artistic portrayal of artistic portrayal. After this little review, I’d like to add that we should all give a good look into this flick if you have any love fer Serbian Film. Not because it’s similar, but because it gives you a better taste of the Balkans than simple fantasy. A fine film and definitely worth the price!

Nasty Nate

Nasty Nate

Crazy ex-Mormon, lover of filth, scumbag extraordinaire. Only the sickest in cinema will do.

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