Clip (2012) @ Klip

SEXPLOITED? - Nubile nihilist Jasna (Isidora Simijonović, 14 during filming).

At a glance:

I missed this sex-soaked Serbian movie at TIFF 2012 so I'm glad I now got to see it, especially since the last Serb flick I watched was Srđan Dragojević's The Wounds (1988) a.k.a. Rane (Ране) so many years ago. Festival programmer Dimitri Eipides wrote how this movie was "a succès de scandale at the Rotterdam film festival... understandably ignited controversy with its unvarnished look at teenage sexuality" and how debutante director Maja Miloš is not simply a provocateur, "not simply a lament for wasted youth, but an intimate account of how sex can become the only form of communication for young people whose situation has denied them a true voice, and the difficulty and pain they face when they try to articulate their feelings with the heart." We follow nubile nihilist 16-year-old Jasna (Isidora Simijonović, 14 durin filmin but the disclaimer reassures us no underaged actors were used), as she records her hedonistic, self-loathin lifestyle with her decadent friends on her mobile phone, all the while tryin to repress her emotions about growin up in bleak Belgrade with a troubled family. It's explicit, it's even got prosthetic cocks and you get coke and cum flyin in your face. Clip a.k.a. Klip (2012) is like Kids (1995) meets Lilja 4-ever (2002) with an unapologetically incendiary approach. You get to decide if there's any merit in it.

Some of them want to use you.
Some of them want to get used by you.

Bad news on the doorstep:

Self-loathing sex.

At least it's nothin like that artless Klip 3GP (2012) bullcrap I watched last week. Still, I think the scenes of self-degradation with the abusive pusher boyfriend Djole (Vukasin Jasnić) to establish the lack of self-worth and the desire for catharsis and numbin have unfortunately overachieved. It's simply too much, even if that's precisely the point.

Perennial wonderment:

The production design is so good because everythin the girls wear are fantastic for the purposes of the film. I have no doubt this DVD will be on every paedo's shoppin list. Ahh... the fine lines between art and porn are blurrier by the day. Just how do we regulate it?

Reminds me of:

Ahh... the secrets that we keep.

Watch out for:

Lead actress Isidora Simijonović. It's an unsympathetic role with no redemption and she nails it - but we're left wonderin what this movie will do for her in years to come.

Director Maja Miloš

Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?
Variety's Jay Weissberg notes how it's impossible to shake off questions of exploitation - does it make it alright since Miloš is a woman? How is the gendered gaze affected by a male d.p.? I like how Philip Concannon frames it - the debasin sex scenes are simply too repetitive to retain their impact. Indeed, scenes like a last kiss are underplayed when it should be maximally milked and overhit, like the sex scenes. I believe the consensus is that Clip is invariably more show than tell.★★1/2
Bonus material:

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