{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2014}} {{more citations needed|date=August 2014}} {{Infobox film | name = Service | image = Service 2008 movie poster.png | alt = | caption = Official movie poster | native_name = Serbis | director = Brillante Mendoza | producer = Ferdinand Lapuz | screenplay = Armando Lao | story = Armando Lao<br />Boots Agbayani Pastor | starring = {{plainlist| * Coco Martin * Gina Pareño * Jaclyn Jose * Julio Diaz * Kristoffer King * Mercedes Cabral }} | music = Gian Gianan | cinematography = Odyssey Flores | editing = Claire Villa-Real | studio = {{ubl|Centerstage Productions|Swift Productions}} | distributor = {{ubl|Fortissimo Films|Regent Releasing (United States)|GMA Films (Philippines)}} | released = {{Film date|2008|5|18|Cannes|2008|6|25|Philippines|df=yes}} | runtime = 90 minutes | country = Philippines<Br>France | language = Filipino | budget = | gross = $155,156.00<ref name="boxofficemojo">{{cite web|url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=serbis.htm|title=Serbis|work=Box Office Mojo|accessdate=2 January 2015}}</ref> }} '''''Service''''' ({{langx|fil|'''Serbis'''}}) is a 2008 Filipino independent drama film directed by Brillante Mendoza and stars Gina Pareño as the matriarch of the Pineda family who owns a porn cinema in Angeles City. The film competed for the Palme d'Or in the main competition at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. It is also the first Filipino film to compete at the main competition in Cannes, since Lino Brocka's ''Bayan Ko: Kapit sa Patalim'' in 1984.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pinoyfilm.com/serbis-vying-for-the-palme-dor-in-cannes|title='Serbis' Vying for the Palme d'Or in Cannes|accessdate=2008-05-25|archive-date=26 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926134401/http://pinoyfilm.com/serbis-vying-for-the-palme-dor-in-cannes|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== Cast == *Gina Pareño as Nanay Flor *Jaclyn Jose as Nayda *Julio Diaz as Lando *Kristoffer King as Ronald *Mercedes Cabral as Merly *Coco Martin as Alan *Dan Alvaro as Jerome
==Production== The film was shot in just 12 days.<ref>{{cite web |title=Edgy Philippine drama enters the Palme d'Or race at Cannes |work=taiwannews.com.tw |url=https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/659122 |access-date=2022-01-29 |archive-date=29 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220129203342/https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/659122 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Brillante Mendoza recounted how difficult it was to find the actress for the role of Merly, partly because of the scene in which she had to have explicit sex on camera: "I couldn't think of a young actress from mainstream movies who can do what the role required, so I held an audition for the role of Merly. I wanted someone who's not interested in becoming a "movie star," I wanted a real artist who can give justice to the role, and I saw that in Mercedes Cabral. The first thing I asked is if she would trust me to shoot this somewhat graphic love scene with Coco. She said it wasn't a problem."<ref name="ResearchGate">{{cite web |title=Defining the Aesthetics of Philippine Independent Cinema: An Interview with Brillante Mendoza |work=researchgate.net |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270306909 |access-date=2022-01-29 }}</ref>
Brillante Mendoza said the scene in which Jewel (played by teenage actress Roxanne Jordan), is naked in front of a mirror, was not in the script.<ref name="ResearchGate" />
''Service'' caused a stir in the Philippines with its loud ambient noise and its graphic depiction of sex and nudity.{{Citation needed|date=January 2015}} Submitted to the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board for public exhibition in 2008, the movie survived with two major cuts to sex scenes and was rated an R18.{{Citation needed|date=January 2015}}
== Release == Such was the advance international buzz of the film that it was invited to compete at the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival, being the 3rd overall entry from the Philippines (following the films of director Lino Brocka, ''Jaguar'' and ''Bayan Ko: Kapit sa Patalim''). Its premiere at the festival was marked by the walking out of several veteran film critics who protested Mendoza's version of "misery porn."{{Citation needed|date=January 2015}}
On 30 January 2009, the film premiered in New York.
== Reception == === Critical response === The film garnered mixed-to-positive reviews. {{Rotten Tomatoes prose|79||29|consensus=This darkly comic family drama finds ways of being viscerally graphic and intellectually stimulating at the same time.|ref=yes|access-date=4 February 2026}} {{Metacritic film prose|76|11|ref=yes|access-date=4 February 2026}}
Writing for ''The New York Times'', its chief film critic Manohla Dargis described the film: "The heavenly bodies that populate our films bring their own pleasures ... alighting onscreen as if from a dream. But the bodies in [‘Serbis’], which received little love at the 2008 Cannes, are not heaven-sent, but neither are they puppets in a contrived nightmare. Rather, they lust, sweat, desire and struggle with the ferocious truth."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dargis |first=Manohla |date=January 29, 2009 |title=A Fractured Family in a Crumbling World |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/movies/30serb.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221126013844/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/movies/30serb.html |archive-date=November 26, 2022 |access-date=October 5, 2024 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> Roger Ebert of the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' gave ''Service'' two and a half out of four stars, stating that "[i]f you see only one art film this month, this shouldn't be the one. If you see one every week, you might admire it."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Ebert|first1=Roger|title=Serbis Movie Review & Film Summary|url=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/serbis-2009|website=RogerEbert.com|publisher=Ebert Digital LLC|accessdate=2 January 2015|date=18 March 2009|archive-date=2 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150102153856/http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/serbis-2009|url-status=live}}</ref>
== Accolades == {| class="wikitable" |- ! '''Year''' ! '''Event''' ! '''Category''' ! '''Recipient''' ! '''Result''' |- |2008 |Cannes Film Festival |Palme d'Or |''Serbis'' |{{Nom}} |- |rowspan=13|2009 |rowspan=3|Asian Film Awards |Best Director |Brillante Mendoza |{{nom}} |- |rowspan=2|Best Supporting Actress |Gina Pareño |{{won}} |- |Jaclyn Jose |{{nom}} |- |rowspan=10|Gawad Urian Awards |Best Picture |''Serbis'' |{{won}} |- |Best Director |Brillante Mendoza |{{won}} |- |rowspan=2|Best Actress |Gina Pareño |{{nom}} |- |Jaclyn Jose |{{nom}} |- |Best Supporting Actor |Julio Diaz |{{nom}} |- |Best Screenplay |Armando Lao<br>Boots Agbayani Pastor |{{nom}} |- |Best Cinematography |Odyssey Flores |{{won}} |- |Best Editing |Claire Villa-Real |{{nom}} |- |Best Production Design |Benjamin Padero<br>Carlo Tabije |{{won}} |- |Best Sound |Emmanuel Clemente |{{nom}} |- |2011 |Gawad Urian Awards |Best Film of the Decade (2000-2009) |''Serbis'' |{{won}} |- |}
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == *{{IMDb title|id=tt1225296|title=Serbis}} *{{Mojo title|serbis|Serbis}} *{{Metacritic film|service-serbis|Service}} *{{Rotten Tomatoes|serbis|Serbis}} *[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/asia/reviews/e3iac5edbea24551b65e2b54b6e3e1cc2aa Film Review: 'Serbis' in Hollywood Reporter] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20140819084244/http://globalnation.inquirer.net/diaspora/diaspora/view/20080604-140723/Mixed-Reviews-of-emSerbisem-in-Cannes Mixed Reviews of Serbis in Cannes ] *[https://movies.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/movies/30serb.html?partner=rss&emc=rss New York Times film review accessed on 31 January 2009]
{{Brillante Mendoza}}
Category:2008 drama films Category:2008 films Category:Filipino-language films Category:Films directed by Brillante Mendoza Category:Philippine drama films Category:2000s erotic drama films Category:2008 erotic films