Directed by Brillante Mendoza, the 2008 film Service (original title: Serbis) offers a raw and unflinching look into the lives of the Pineda family, who operate and live within the confines of a dilapidated adult movie house in Angeles City, Philippines. The film is a masterful piece of social realism, using its unique setting to explore themes of family, desperation, and the blurred lines between personal and professional lives.
At the heart of the story is the matriarch of the family, Nanay Flor (Gina Pareño), a formidable woman who is simultaneously trying to manage the day-to-day chaos of the cinema and deal with her own personal turmoil. As the film opens, she is embroiled in a legal battle—a bigamy case against her estranged husband—a conflict that adds to the pervasive sense of tension and decay. The cinema itself is more than just a business; it's a character in its own right. A crumbling, once-prestigious establishment, its enormous, cavernous halls now show a continuous loop of vintage pornographic films, and its darkness serves as a meeting ground for a wide array of customers, hustlers, and prostitutes.
The movie’s narrative unfolds over a single day, following the various members of the Pineda family as they navigate their interconnected struggles. Nayda (Jaclyn Jose), Nanay Flor's daughter, has taken on much of the management responsibility, patrolling the theater’s dim hallways and dealing with the constant flow of unsavory activity. Her husband, Lando (Julio Diaz), works the concession stand, while their children and other family members also have their roles, from ticket-takers to projectionists. The boundaries between their family life and the seedy reality of the cinema are almost nonexistent, as they eat, sleep, and argue in rooms just off the main theater floor, with the sights and sounds of the adult films and their patrons constantly in the background.
The film's strength lies in its ability to present this world without judgment. The camera, often handheld, moves restlessly through the theater’s claustrophobic spaces, creating an immersive and at times suffocating atmosphere. We see the family’s personal dramas—a son grappling with his girlfriend’s unwanted pregnancy, a daughter dealing with a skin condition, and the constant friction of living in close quarters—all playing out against the backdrop of prostitution and illicit activity. The sounds of the bustling city, the whirring of the projector, and the explicit moans from the screen create a relentless and sensory experience that pulls the viewer directly into their world.
Service is a powerful, uncompromising film that exposes the underbelly of a society where survival often requires a person to look away from uncomfortable truths. It is a portrait of a family that, despite their surroundings, maintains a strong sense of unity, even if that unity is born from their shared desperation. The film is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of squalor and moral ambiguity, showing how even in the most sordid of environments, life, family, and the search for dignity continue on.
Service is a 2008 drama with a runtime of 1 hour and 28 minutes.
It has received mostly positive reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 6.1 and a MetaScore of 76.
