Serbis

Language: Tagalog

Genre: Drama

Director: Brillante Mendoza
Cast: Gina Pareño, Jaclyn Jose, Julio Diaz, Coco Martin
Runtime: 90 mins

Plot:

The movie brings a frank, gritty immediacy to SERBIS, a multi-character, day-in-the-life portrait of a family-run movie house in the Philippines. Only this isn't your typical movie house. It's actually a downtrodden venue that shows graphic double features and allows the clientele to make their own sexual connections in the dark shadows. Nanay Flor, the family matriarch, is going to discover if she won a years-in-the-making bigamy case against her husband. Meanwhile, her children are involved in dramatic situations of their own. Alan has just learned troubling news about his girlfriend, and Nayda is married but attracted to her cousin Ronald. As the day develops and the verdict comes down, the Pinedas struggle to focus on the daily tasks associated with the theater, even as their own personal conflicts threaten to overwhelm them.

Watched the movie on 13 March @ The Cathay Picturehouse.

The movie title means "service", and the sex - gay, straight, and otherwise - looks real. It captured the raw and visual quality of modern-day Manila slums. There are buffaloes pulling the carts, tricycles, Tuk Tuks and other automobile. Hugh culture shock for someone who has not been to Philippines like me.

A run-down cinema that shows porn movies, operated by the family members. This cinema links the characters, young and old, men and women. Old mother wished to win her case to be free, elder daughter ran the operation despite her prohibited love for her cousin, another cousin did not love his girlfriend and ran away from reality, youngest daughter wished to grow up and live her own life. The cinema looked worn out yet the story inside stirred up the family ties.

ah-deng says: 2/5 Only the gays patrons worth watching.