The return of the Pinoy macho movie

MANILA, Philippines - Erik Matti’s much-awaited On The Job  is a “macho” movie at its core, and it’s like nothing we’ve seen in local cinema recently. Sure, there have been attempts to revive the Pinoy action genre — a genre typically associated with leather jackets, bad dialogue and all — but OTJ walks the line between a stylized caper film and a gritty visit to Manila’s underbelly.

Gerald Anderson plays Daniel, a prisoner who serves as apprentice to Joel Torre’s hired gun. Both are part of a system where prisoners like them are tasked to assassinate people and then slip away with the perfect alibi — that they’re already in jail to begin with. Piolo Pascual, on the other hand, plays Francis, an NBI agent who investigates a series of murders that will eventually lead him to a complicated web of deceit involving the biggest names in top-tier government positions, some of which he knows personally. All this leads to big chases, high-octane set pieces, and confrontations imbued with the energy and feel of Johnnie To’s frantic hyperrealist films and, essentially, the male-dominated features of the ‘90s.

In the Philippines, action films have become a relic of a distant past where men settle their dues by one-upping each other through a series of gunfights, hostage-takings, and other displays of manhood and testosterone. Cinema has mellowed out, favoring a boom in romantic comedies and horror films over the dark, sleazy side of things.

STRONG GENRE FILMS

Matti has since dreamt of the return of strong genre films that cater to the male audience in the country. His earlier outings, Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles and Rigodon, have been testing grounds to check if the market for these films is alive and well.

“There’s only a small group of filmmakers nowadays who’re doing, hindi naman male-driven genre films, but movies that not necessarily cater to the female audience,” he told Supreme before he screened OTJ at the Cannes film festival. “There’s Quark Henares who’s on hiatus, Rico Illarde, Richard Sommes, Topel Lee. Parang kukonti lang and the venue to showcase our frustrations with the genre is only horror pero ilan pang horror yung kaya mong gawin diba? So ang hirap.”

But to Matti, this isn’t only just about bringing back a certain brand of films. Making films like OTJ or Tiktik is an opportunity to showcase what Filipino films can do internationally outside the tenets of the regular film festival route, where films can snag distribution deals due to their universal appeal and accessibility yet grounded in good story and aesthetics.

“We started talking about reinventing Reality Entertainment (his production company). We had a string of movies that we produced like Pa-siyam and Exodus and then we concentrated on advertising. When we went back this time we have a post house, we have a CG company for Tiktik, we have a lights company so parang we can play around na hindi siya malaking financial risk because you have all these things at your disposal; so when we were writing down our mission and vision, we were gunning for local movies that have international appeal. Yun talaga, I think that’s the way to go. The reason that we can’t bring our budgets higher than what we’re used to is because we’re only dependent on the local market. That’s why ang lakas pa rin ng mga Vice Ganda. But that can’t translate internationally; it’s geared towards a local market talaga. Ito lang yung kaya ng budget,” he said.

Slapping guns, Sex, and Sleaze

A throwback to the male-driven films of yore isn’t simply just slapping guns, sex and sleaze into a production. The tastes and sensibilities of people have changed, brought on by the onslaught of big-budgeted comic book franchises, and the same-y safety of romantic comedies — the forte of the studio that finally bankrolled OTJ after several tries, Star Cinema. Matti had previously offered the script of OTJ to Star Cinema a few years ago but was turned down because it wasn’t the kind of movie that Star Cinema was set on making. Before it finally hit the ground running, OTJ had several casting changes (Joel Torre was the only “nonnegotiable” for Matti; John Lloyd Cruz was initially considered for the role of Daniel but had to turn it down). It’s a huge risk for a studio like Star Cinema (it cost over P40 million to make) who had preferred predictable but salable films for the past few years, but with two of its biggest stars taking the lead, OTJ may end up as the biggest movie of the year.

If it succeeds, OTJ may just break new ground in terms of how big studios make movies. Matti is up to the task of bringing a renewed sensibility to movies that gracefully meld accessibility — whether local or international — with powerful storytelling. And what better way to welcome such a change than with something like OTJ?

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