Mladen Djordjevic, a 30-something, Serbian director and screenwriter, seems to be obsessed with porn.
To clarify, not obsessed in a "sits at home, with a jar of hand cream and box of tissues," disgusting kind of obsessed with porn way. On the contrary, Djordjevic is consumed with the sociological idea of porn, the effect the medium has on culture, in particular its place in Serb culture.
The Life and Death of A Porno Gang (2009) is Djordjevic's second docudrama about the absurd, sleazy and violent side of the eastern European porno industry. It carries on in the same theme as his 2005 flick, Made in Serbia.
This new movie is set during the late ‘90s, the end years of Slobodan Milosevic's rule over Serbia. Marko (Milhajlo Jovanovic), a film school student, is unable to successfully pitch any of his daring film ideas to producers, so he joins forces with a group from the Belgrade art scene, forming a porno-cabaret theatre group that tours the Balkans performing sex acts for the locals.
Eventually the troupe of outcast pornographers comes across a former war reporter turned snuff filmmaker. The meeting results in an exchange of ideas that leads to emotional and physical destruction.
The story is violently sexual, disturbing, sometimes painful to watch, and occasionally hilarious. Essentially, the perfect storm of post-war angst, confusion, fear, hopefulness/hopelessness and depression that most Canadians can only imagine being immersed in. This is Djordjevic's statement on modern Serbia.
The Life and Death of A Porno Gang is the story of lawless souls, not lands. It's shot rustically and raw from handheld cameras. The scenes are bleak and dark but always provoking of emotion.
The Life and Death of a Porno Gang plays Friday, April 16, 11:45 p.m. at the The Plaza Theatre (1133 Kensington Rd. N.W.) as part of the Calgary Underground Film festival.
View trailer here.
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