SERVICE (Brillante Mendoza, Philippines/France). 94 minutes. Subtitled. Wednesday (May 20), 5:15 pm, Isabel Bader. Rating: NNN
Service is a rather gloriously unclassifiable picture set in a seedy old grindhouse where things are falling apart in every possible way.
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The theatre is crumbling around its patrons and staff, the parents of the squabbling clan that runs it are in the middle of a contentious divorce, and their projectionist son is obsessed with bursting a massive boil on his ass.
Director Brillante Mendoza has constructed a berserk roundelay of enthusiastic sex, venomous insults, random slap fights, minor catastrophes and major gross-outs – and that’s before the goat shows up.
People might complain about his excesses, but there’s no question that Mendoza has made precisely the movie he wanted to make.
