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On the Job
Additional Language: English
Year of Release: 2013
Director: Erik Matti
Screenwriters: Erik Matti & Michiko Yamamoto
Producers: Star Cinema Productions & Reality Entertainment
Cast: Joel Torre, Gerald Anderson, Piolo Pascual, Joey Marquez, Michael de Mesa, Leo Martinez, Angel Aquino, Vivian Velez, Shaina Magdayao, William Martinez, Rayver Cruz, Empress Schuck, Lito Pimentel, Rosanna Roces, Al Tantay, Niño Muhlach, Joel Saracho
Tatang and his cocky protégé Daniel are let in and out of jail by the powers-that-be to work as hired killers. Handling their cases are local cop Joaquin and promising National Bureau of Investigation agent Francis. But the pursuit of justice becomes complicated when Francis realizes that his search for the truth can lead him to permanently sever his ties with his politician father-in-law.
Changes in technology can no longer be called revolutionary during a time when companies upgrade their electronic products as a means of capitalist survival; but the digital shift in Philippine cinema can be granted a measure of progressive agency if it manages to revitalize a long-dormant genre such as, in this case, the action film. On the Job upholds the critical social commentary that the best action samples purveyed during the genre’s heyday, roughly from the 1960s to the people-power revolt in 1986: as examples, in the present canon listing alone, we have films such as Gerardo de Leon’s The Moises Padilla Story (1961), Cesar Gallardo’s Geron Busabos: Ang Batang Quiapo (1964), Celso Ad. Castillo’s Asedillo (1971), Romy Suzara’s Pepeng Shotgun (1981), and several entries by Lino Brocka. On the Job depicts a heretofore clandestine situation so abhorrent and extensive that even recent real-life discoveries of similar and worse conditions still enable the movie to retain its shock factor—a tribute to Erik Matti’s skill at delineating congested urban spaces steeped in paranoia, betrayal, and ensuing heartbreak. In fact, because of the intensity of the movie’s vision of the state as failed and abusive provider, the narrative’s cold-blooded resolution regarding the denial of fatherly commitment provides cathartic relief, since it is a flesh-and-blood criminal father (Joel Torre in peak form) who grieves as he executes his professional duty at the expense of his chosen son. Along the way we get treated to impressive set-pieces, harrowing chase sequences, mile-a-minute repartee, even lust and tenderness—so for those inclined to linger further, the complex allegory advanced by the film becomes worthy of contemplation.
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