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International award-winning movie “Serbis” (Service) by Brillante Mendoza (Slingshot, The Masseur, Summer Heat, Foster Child) is showing in selected theaters in the US on January 16, 2009. Check out the US poster and trailer of Serbis after the jump.

Rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America, Serbis is being distributed in the US by Regent Releasing.

SYNOPSIS

Filipino director Brillante Mendoza 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… Filipino director Brillante Mendoza 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.

Today is a very important day, for Nanay For, 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.

Shot on video, SERBIS recalls films from the Dogme 95 movement. Mendoza and screenwriter Armando Lao have clearly constructed these dramatic situations, yet they are shot on consumer video with such energy that the film often feels like a documentary. Mendoza pulls no punches, showing multiple scenes of behind-the-scenes sexuality that are even more graphic than the X-rated behavior unfolding on the cavernous theater’s silver screen. SERBIS provides a realistic, unflinching glimpse into this hyper-sexualized world.

Serbis (Service) stars Coco Martin (The Masseur), Jacklyn Jose (Consol), Kristoffer King, Julio Diaz, Dan Alvaro and Gina Pareño (The Collector).

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY ABOUT SERBIS:

“Slightly more evolved from a narrative perspective than his previous feature Tirador (Slingshot), Serbis (Service) is another overwhelmingly tactile experience that should further cement the prolific filmmaker’s reputation.” - John P. McCarthy (Boxoffice Magazine)

“Raw and Uncompromising.” - New York Film Festival

“Bristling Sexuality, both gay and straight.” - The Hollywood Reported

This is the trailer of the movie courtesy by hatakpl