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Serbis (Brillante Mendoza) is a snapshot of a day of poverty in the Philippines. Handheld cameras follow family members (by blood and adopted) around their disgustingly dirty adult theater/fast food shop. We observe them walk, talk, yell, walk, fight, walk, have sex, cook, serve customers (both food and at the theater box office), talk and walk. There is no real story – we simply join them in the midst of their many varied situations.

The film is certainly not bad, but it’s even more certainly not for everyone. The title translates to “service”, which is what the many young and mainly young prostitutes say to patrons of the cinema and those in the vicinity, to offer themselves.

This is an extremely noisy film, which I’m sure was intentional. The characters’ voices were barely audible at times due to the incredibly loud street noise. It’s a bit explicit at times but not as much it was made it out to be. It’s also pretty gross, and i’m sure that was intentional. Like, really gross, though. I wanted to have a shower immediately but instead had to settle for another film’s lineup.

I found this film to be incredibly well done and I would be surprised if the majority of the cast actually had acting experience. I am a big fan of handheld photography and also of bleak, realistic films. This may not be the favourite of the films I am seeing at this year’s festival, but it will certainly stand out.

Serbis was up for the Palm d’Or at Cannes this year, the first time in 24 years for a film from the Philippines.

This was screening 4/26.