First Post: Two Controversial Films and a Challenge

Downloading Nancy (Johan Renck, 2008)


I am a sucker for films with taglines like "WARNING: MOST CONTROVERSIAL MOVIE YOU WILL EVER SEE", so when I saw the poster for the film Downloading Nancy, I feel like I had to watch it. Despite the fact that it may just be a marketing ploy, you can't make a claim like that and expect me to just pass it by. They could put out a remastered version of Bambi with the poster reading something like, "NOW WITH DELETED SCENES! SURE TO BE THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL FILM YOU SEE THIS YEAR!" and I would probably just look at the poster and say to myself, "Challenge Accepted".

But, on top of the fact that it was listed as controversial, my interest was sparked knowing it had Jason Patric (My Sister's Keeper, In The Valley of Elah, and NARC), Rufus Sewell (Paris, Je T'aime, The Illusionist, and Dark City), and the always lovely Maria Bello (A History of Violence, The Cooler, and Coyote Ugly).

It's very important to know that this movie is not for the faint of heart. At times, it is very difficult to watch and the film overall deals with some incredibly dark subject matter. The brief synopsis is this: A woman, unhappy with her life/marriage, decides she wants to end it all but realizes that she can't do it herself so she hires someone she meets online to do it for her.
Dark as the film may be, it has this stunning, underlying gorgeousness to it. All of the music is soft and electronic, which helps create this morose atmosphere. The camera work is very reminiscent to that of Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It looks very amateur and sort of chaotic at times, but at the same time, incredibly professional. The camera makes all the right moves at all the right times to keep you focused on exactly what you should be focusing on.

I don't think I took my eyes away from the screen for the entire duration of the film. Nothing about it is terribly edge-of-your-seat, but off the bat, Maria Bello really creates this captivating persona. Although, the playing field is level as far as acting capabilities goes. Jason Patric and Rufus Sewell can hold their own too.

★★★★★ - I recommend this to anyone who can handle deeply troubling films. It features a lot of graphic masochism and sadism and really just doesn't play nice. But if you're the kind of person who can get through the tough parts, I think this was just one of the single most magnificent films I have ever had the pleasure of seeing.

Which brings us right along to film #2:
A Serbian Film (Srdjan Spasojevic, 2010)

I heard about this film through an online forum. The things people were saying sounded something like this: "Oh god, I can't unsee! MAKE IT STOP!!!!!" or "My life... will never be the same again..."
My God, I can't help myself. It's like a disease. I immediately went searching online (without even reading the synopsis) to see if it was coming here but, sure enough, it wasn't coming to any theaters near me. I did some more digging and was able to use my... uhh... completely legal sources <_< >_> to find it. This isn't to say I didn't spend an hour looking though.

Before I venture further, I'll just let you know what it was about: Basically, a retired porn star is recruited to rejoin the business for one last hurrah in something the director who approaches him calls "Art Porn." It's supposedly completely new and unique. A Serbian Film took all of the single most traumatizing sections of the most disturbing films I have ever seen and combined it into one horrifically grim film. I honestly finished it and cleaned for 30 minutes to try to get my mind off of what I just saw.

This isn't to say that it isn't worth watching, by any means. In a similar facet to Downloading Nancy, the incredibly traumatic subject matter is completely complimented by beautiful cinematography. Even if you walk away thinking, "My god, that film has warped my fragile mind..." you can at least say to yourself, "But at it was gorgeous."

This film comes jam packed with intensely graphic sadistic violence and I would only recommend it for those of you who can sit through Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom without flinching. A Serbian Film makes Salo seem like a Lifetime Movie.

If you are interested in finding this film, good luck to you. Unless you live in Chicago or New York, you're probably going to have to wait for the DVD release for this one.

★★★★ - Traumatic as it was, it was well acted, well written, and incredibly well shot.




The Challenge:
As mentioned before, I wanted to propose a challenge to anyone who may read this. Find me a movie like Downloading Nancy. The bleak and depressing movies are never gorgeous and the gorgeous movies are never that bleak and depressing. I'm searching for a movie that makes me question humanity. I want to walk away reevaluating my life and the way things are going. But I want it to be absolutely stunningly shot. Send any films you feel meet this criteria to Kevinopatrick@gmail.com


Roll credits.