ON THE JOB (2013)

The same year as Norte had its premiere at Cannes (alongside two other films, including the newly restored 35mm print of Brocka’s Maynila Sa Mga Kuko Liwanag), Erik Matti’s crime thriller was eradefining for local cinema the way Diaz’s film was for foreign ones. It was nothing less than a game-changer. It opened up what we expected, what mainstream cinema could be—not only for its painstaking production value but the stories we deemed viable for wide commercial release.