Probably the only country whose cinema can rival the Japanese freedom of expression is the Philippines, where art, however, seems to come from completely different sources than the Japanese one; from financial and political instability, from the different stages of colonialism, from the intense impact of Catholicism, all of which create a rather chaotic setting that always benefitted art of any kind. It is due to this concept, as much as the richness of its cinematic past and present, that we have decided to focus so intently on the country’s cinema this year. Granted, our knowledge of the past is not so intent, since Amp took a turn of covering a more wider part of Asia after 2019, which is why the particular list is the biggest among the ones focusing on the various decades of Filipino cinema.
Without further ado, here are 35 great Filipino films of the 00s, with...
Without further ado, here are 35 great Filipino films of the 00s, with...
- 5/14/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Apart from being a brilliant filmmaker, Erik Matti has proven time and again that he is also a great businessman, and coming up with the sequel of his most famous work, “On the Job”, eight years after the original was released, just proves both facts in the most eloquent fashion. “The Missing 8”, as the sequel is titled, premiered to high acclaim at the 78th Venice International Festival as part of the main competition, eventually netting the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for John Arcilla. Furthermore, and in another rather smart idea, the film is now screening in HBO Asia as a six episode mini series, with the first two episodes essentially being the first movie (re-edited and remastered) split into two parts, and the connection between the old and the new being the general concept of the prison murderers-for-hire and a number of individuals that appear in both.
(This review...
(This review...
- 10/5/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Scrappy filmmaking can sometimes deliver superb storytelling, as is proven by Erik Matti’s initially wobbly but increasingly gripping, increasingly thoughtful, increasingly increasing three-and-a-half-hour “On the Job: The Missing 8,” the prolific Filipino director’s Venice-competing sequel to the 2013 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight title “On the Job.” While the film unfolds more like the TV show it’s about to become, that’s hardly a diss these days. And in its current shape — due largely to screenwriter Michiko Yamamoto’s uncanny ability to keep multiple narrative balls in the air at once — it combines the immersive, occasionally spectacular pleasures of genre cinema with the greedy moreishness of longform TV models. It’s a sprawling, satisfying big-screen binge.
It also plays somewhat like a 209-minute dolly zoom: As the aperture widens on the intensely corrupt landscape of a society under strongman leadership, the focus also narrows onto one man’s painful ethical reawakening.
It also plays somewhat like a 209-minute dolly zoom: As the aperture widens on the intensely corrupt landscape of a society under strongman leadership, the focus also narrows onto one man’s painful ethical reawakening.
- 9/12/2021
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
The film is based on a series of actual events that shocked the public in the Philippines, where prison inmates were contracted by politicians to temporarily leave jail and conduct a number of assassinations before they returned to prison.
“On the Job” is screening at the 17th New York Asian Film Festival
The story revolves around two axes, which collide at times, based on the aforementioned story. The first one concerns two inmates-assassins, veteran Tatang and his trainee, Daniel. The first one actually has a family, and uses the money he receives to support them and to pay for his daughter’s intuition, who is studying law. Daniel, on the other hand, is a cocky, naive, and a bit too eager young man who lies to his mother about what he is actually doing. When the two of them murder a drug lord, veteran Sergeant Acosta is tasked with the investigation,...
“On the Job” is screening at the 17th New York Asian Film Festival
The story revolves around two axes, which collide at times, based on the aforementioned story. The first one concerns two inmates-assassins, veteran Tatang and his trainee, Daniel. The first one actually has a family, and uses the money he receives to support them and to pay for his daughter’s intuition, who is studying law. Daniel, on the other hand, is a cocky, naive, and a bit too eager young man who lies to his mother about what he is actually doing. When the two of them murder a drug lord, veteran Sergeant Acosta is tasked with the investigation,...
- 7/16/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
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