There's a concentration on the immediate and the detail, and the larger social picture is entirely missing, so one is irresistibly drawn to the conclusion that the rot of Filipino society is the fault of the ordinary Filipino.

| Feb 13, 2021

Serbis, though humorous at times, suffers from Mendoza's wanton vagueness.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Oct 3, 2019

Mendoza's roving camera captures his characters strife and pain with an unblinking eye.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 7, 2019

Another case of world cinema showing us a place we never imagined existed.

| Dec 16, 2017

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 18, 2011

| Original Score: 5/5 | Nov 17, 2011

The number of characters involved leaves the plotlines strung out and little emotion for the audience to cling to.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 4, 2009

film feels like it has more to say but can't get the wording right

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 1, 2009

A gritty little drama that leaves you feeling like you might need a shower.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 22, 2009

While it has its gag-inducing moments, director Brillante Mendoza's film about a three-generational family that lives in and operates a rundown porn theatre is more sweet than twisted.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 22, 2009

That calling-attention-to-the-idea-that-we're-watching-a-movie device is at odds with the realism of the story, but it does a nice job of illustrating the central question of Serbis: Which is going to fall apart first, the Family or the family?

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 10, 2009

Enthralling. A vivid portrait of a family seemingly involved in only their own problems who have been infected by the filth and enervation around them.

| Mar 20, 2009

Unflinching, graphic depictions of illicit sex and boil-lancing are memorable, but the family's moral ambiguities and sense of lost prestige are what fascinate the most.

| Feb 27, 2009

Part-telenovela, part outlandish screwball comedy, part soft-porno, but completely without a road map, Serbis evokes Pedro Almodóvar, Tennessee Williams, and 1940s and '50s Hollywood.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 26, 2009

Serbis has the feel of a documentary, but a documentary can't accomplish what "Serbis" does: Take us to a corner of the world where sex and regret are so intimately entwined.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 20, 2009

A unique and artistic treatment of gritty family survival but one that will turn away viewers with its carnal setting and sand-blasted treatment of the human condition.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Feb 5, 2009

Often drags with too many poorly developed characters its convoluted, unfocused plot. If it were more character-driven and had a sharper screenplay, it would have been a much more captivating drama.

| Original Score: 4.5/10 | Feb 1, 2009

This isn't a family -- or a film -- you'll easily forget.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 30, 2009

The Filipino movie Serbis is gentle, bawdy and at times rambunctiously, ticklishly rude.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 30, 2009

A scraggly, messy, often aimless, and yet consistently amusing and engaging work of black comedy-cum-social-realism.

| Jan 30, 2009