"Serbis" Distribution and Trailer

Good news to report! Brilliante Mendoza's Serbis, one of the most provocative films at this year's New York Film Festival and #7 on my Festival Top 10, has been picked up by Regent Releasing. It will open in New York on January 16, 2009 (update) January 30 at Cinema Village, a theater I am all too familiar with. I assume that means it will have a limited release in other major markets as well. A lot of critics dismissed the film rather quickly, but I think there is a lot more to it than most are giving it credit for. Moreover, its playfully experiments with a classically melodramatic structure by placing it in a movie theater and creating ruptures in its melodramatic system by featuring a boisterous atmosphere, real sex, family lawsuits, and, yes, even goats. It won't be everybody's cup of tea, but I think, for any adventurous moviegoer, it is well worth checking out if you have the opportunity. Check out the trailer below.