There’s one bit of beauty in “Clip,” and it’s Isidora Simijonovic. She plays a Serbian teenager, Jasna, whose father is dying of cancer. Jasna copes by using her phone to film her own stripper moves and the degrading sex she’s having with a coldhearted jerk.
The aesthetic, if you can call it that, is almost entirely derived from amateur porn. Everything’s the color of putty or concrete, and that includes the faces; I’ve seen prettier prison movies.
Simijovonic was 14 at the time of filming, and the movie carries a disclaimer that no underage performers were used for the explicit stuff; the actress’ parents were on set much of the time. For my part, I’d worry more about how she handled the film’s basic disgust for teens than I would about the camera-ogling.
There’s nothing self-asserting or even vaguely pleasurable about how Jasna reacts to her looks or her own desires, if she has any. One sex act is shown at least three times in revolting close-up, as though the audience might somehow miss the idea that the girl is humiliating herself.
Jasna, of course, reflects the hopelessness of the adult world that’s waiting for her. But the tone is such a weird mix of decadent and moralizing that even Simijovonic’s vivid, expressive performance can’t give it resonance. “Clip” hurts your eyes, but if it’s supposed to hurt your heart, it misses the mark.