# On the Job
*On the Job* is a 2013 Philippine crime thriller directed by Erik Matti, in which two imprisoned hitmen are secretly furloughed to carry out assassinations for corrupt officials while two law-enforcement investigators close in on the arrangement. It was written by Matti and Michiko Yamamoto, produced by Matti's Reality Entertainment with the Philippines' Star Cinema, and premiered in the Directors' Fortnight at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.[1](https://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/film-review-on-the-job-1200496398/) • [2](https://www.contentasia.tv/features/job-erik-matti)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writers | Erik Matti; screenplay by Matti and Michiko Yamamoto[1](https://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/film-review-on-the-job-1200496398/) |
| Production | Reality Entertainment with Star Cinema; pitched from around 2010[2](https://www.contentasia.tv/features/job-erik-matti) |
| Runtime and genre | 2h 1m; action, crime, drama, mystery and thriller[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/on_the_job) |
| Principal cast | Joel Torre (Mario "Tatang" Maghari), Gerald Anderson (Daniel Benitez), Piolo Pascual (Francis Coronel Jr.), Joey Marquez (Sgt. Joaquin Acosta), Angel Aquino (Lolet)[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/on_the_job) |
| Festival premiere | Directors' Fortnight, 2013 Cannes Film Festival[1](https://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/film-review-on-the-job-1200496398/) |
| North American distribution | Rights acquired at Cannes by Well Go USA Entertainment[1](https://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/film-review-on-the-job-1200496398/) |
| Franchise continuation | *On the Job: The Missing 8* in competition at Venice 2021; six-part HBO Go series from September 12, 2021[4](https://press.wbd.com/ph/media-release/hbo/hbo-asias-job-gets-job-done-venice) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and synopsis
The film runs two narratives on a collision course. In the first, Tatang (Joel Torre), a weary middle-aged assassin, schools a younger, cockier protégé named Daniel ([Gerald Anderson](https://www.edgepedia.org/gerald-anderson)). Both are jailbirds secretly furloughed whenever corrupt officials need a quick murder, a well-paying arrangement with a perfect alibi: the men are returned to prison after each hit. Tatang's parole date is approaching, and he knows his bosses do not like loose ends.[5](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/27/movies/on-the-job-directed-by-erik-matti.html) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/on_the_job) In the second thread, upright Sgt. Joaquin Acosta (Joey Marquez) and his rising-star protégé Francis Coronel Jr. ([Piolo Pascual](https://www.edgepedia.org/piolo-pascual)) investigate the murders, and Francis learns that virtually no one on his side of the crime equation is immune to graft.[1](https://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/film-review-on-the-job-1200496398/) • [5](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/27/movies/on-the-job-directed-by-erik-matti.html)
The sales synopsis frames the story as the parallels between two prison inmates working as contract killers and the two agents of the law investigating the murders, all caught in a web of machination by corrupt government officials, with the ambitions and passions of four men trying to make a living for themselves and their families.[6](https://www.xyzfilms.com/on-the-job) The Sitges catalog adds that Mario intends to go straight when he gets parole, while Daniel, his apprentice, is set to replace him as hired killer, and that the two groups inevitably collide.[7](https://sitgesfilmfestival.com/en/film/2013/on-job) The opening hit takes place in broad daylight in a crowded square in [Quezon City](https://www.edgepedia.org/quezon-city), where Tatang initiates Daniel into the trade.[1](https://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/film-review-on-the-job-1200496398/)
**Political entanglement.** Francis's personal life ties the threads together: Michael de Mesa plays the politician Manrique, who aspires to be the next [Vice President of the Philippines](https://www.edgepedia.org/vice-president-of-the-philippines), and Francis's involvement with him leads down a road with no right and wrong, one that might lead him to the true circumstances of his father's death.[8](http://festival.sdaff.org/2013/films/on-the-job/)
### Cast and characters
- **Joel Torre** as Mario "Tatang" Maghari, the aging hitman[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/on_the_job)
- **Gerald Anderson** as Daniel Benitez, his young apprentice[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/on_the_job)
- **Piolo Pascual** as Francis Coronel Jr., a law-enforcement investigator[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/on_the_job) • [5](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/27/movies/on-the-job-directed-by-erik-matti.html)
- **Joey Marquez** as Sgt. Joaquin Acosta[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/on_the_job)
- **Angel Aquino** as Lolet[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/on_the_job)
- **Michael de Mesa** as Manrique, the corrupt politico and Francis's father-in-law[1](https://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/film-review-on-the-job-1200496398/) • [8](http://festival.sdaff.org/2013/films/on-the-job/)
### Sequel, series, and legacy
The story continued as *On the Job: The Missing 8*, a long-form theatrical version that was the only title from Asia in competition at the [78th Venice International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/78th-venice-international-film-festival) in 2021, where it received a five-minute standing ovation.[4](https://press.wbd.com/ph/media-release/hbo/hbo-asias-job-gets-job-done-venice) John Arcilla, playing corrupt newspaper reporter Sisoy Salas, won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, becoming the first Filipino to win the award.[4](https://press.wbd.com/ph/media-release/hbo/hbo-asias-job-gets-job-done-venice) Following the Venice screening, [HBO Go](https://www.edgepedia.org/hbo-go) rolled out the six-episode premium series, which combined never-before-seen material with remastered footage, to viewers throughout Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan; three episodes went up when it launched on September 12, 2021, and the rest arrived one per week.[4](https://press.wbd.com/ph/media-release/hbo/hbo-asias-job-gets-job-done-venice) • [2](https://www.contentasia.tv/features/job-erik-matti)
The franchise cast spans both parts: Joel Torre as Tatang, Gerald Anderson as Daniel, Dennis Trillo as Roman, Joey Marquez as Joaquin, Piolo Pascual as Francis, Christopher De Leon as journalist Arnel, Dante Rivero as Mayor Pedring Eusebio, and Lotlot De Leon as Weng.[4](https://press.wbd.com/ph/media-release/hbo/hbo-asias-job-gets-job-done-venice) To link the two parts, the original 2013 film, which had been shot on HD, was regraded and remastered into 2K, with some visual effects fixed and colors adjusted.[2](https://www.contentasia.tv/features/job-erik-matti)
## Production
Matti began pitching the project around 2010, and the response was, in his later recollection, pretty much "no way"; the 2013 feature was nonetheless produced by his Reality Entertainment with [Star Cinema](https://www.edgepedia.org/star-cinema).[2](https://www.contentasia.tv/features/job-erik-matti) The film was shot on HD, with handheld, neon-smeared cinematography by Francis Ricardo Buhay III, whiplash editing by Jay Halili, and musical selections by Erwin Romulo.[1](https://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/film-review-on-the-job-1200496398/) • [2](https://www.contentasia.tv/features/job-erik-matti)
## Release and festival reception
The world premiere came in the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes 2013, which afforded Matti his broadest international exposure to that point, and Well Go USA Entertainment acquired North American rights at the festival.[1](https://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/film-review-on-the-job-1200496398/) The film later screened as a West Coast premiere at the 2013 San Diego Asian Film Festival[8](http://festival.sdaff.org/2013/films/on-the-job/) and appeared at the Sitges Film Festival in 2013.[7](https://sitgesfilmfestival.com/en/film/2013/on-job)
## Critical reception
**Trade and press response.** [Variety](https://www.edgepedia.org/variety-magazine) called the film a gritty, convoluted but steadily engrossing crime thriller, and singled out the prison as its most fascinating backdrop, "less a traditional cell block than a dense, teeming, self-contained jungle."[1](https://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/film-review-on-the-job-1200496398/) The New York Times review praised a single sinuous tracking shot that follows Daniel through the prison, rendered as a swarming hive of lowlife, and concluded that "Mr. Matti's pitiless view of Filipino society may be deadening, but his filming is wondrously alive."[5](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/27/movies/on-the-job-directed-by-erik-matti.html) Aggregated critics' quotes on Rotten Tomatoes describe it as "a sturdy and sophisticated crime drama from the Philippines" that shows how utterly disposable humans can be under corrupt leadership.[9](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/on_the_job/reviews)
**Place in crime cinema.** The San Diego Asian Film Festival program called it an edge-of-your-seat underworld thriller worthy of comparison to films from Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan, while arguing that something distinct lies in the social complexity of *On the Job*, rooted in the Philippines and in Matti's sensibilities.[8](http://festival.sdaff.org/2013/films/on-the-job/) Academic scholarship has since placed the film alongside Brillante Mendoza's *Kinatay* and Sean Ellis's *Metro Manila* in a study of noir imaginaries and mobility in [Philippine cinema](https://www.edgepedia.org/cinema-of-the-philippines), in Katrina Macapagal's chapter "Men on the Move: Chronotopes of Mobility in the Noir Imaginaries of Kinatay, Metro Manila and On the Job" (Edinburgh University Press, 2021).[10](https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474451918-009) Variety noted a hospital shootout that impressively recalls *The Godfather*.[1](https://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/film-review-on-the-job-1200496398/)
## Themes and real-world context
The story of a hitman on furlough is billed as being rooted in real events: according to the film, syndicates run covertly by elected officials free convicts from prison so they can perform political killings on the politicians' behalf.[2](https://www.contentasia.tv/features/job-erik-matti) • [4](https://press.wbd.com/ph/media-release/hbo/hbo-asias-job-gets-job-done-venice) The film's graft theme extends across the enforcement side as well, with Francis discovering that virtually no one on the law-enforcement side is immune.[5](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/27/movies/on-the-job-directed-by-erik-matti.html)
## References
1. [Film Review: On the Job, Variety (2013)](https://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/film-review-on-the-job-1200496398/)
2. [On The Job with Erik Matti, ContentAsia](https://www.contentasia.tv/features/job-erik-matti)
3. [On the Job, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/on_the_job)
4. [HBO Asia's On The Job Gets the Job Done in Venice, Warner Bros. Discovery Pressroom](https://press.wbd.com/ph/media-release/hbo/hbo-asias-job-gets-job-done-venice)
5. [On the Job, Directed by Erik Matti, The New York Times (2013)](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/27/movies/on-the-job-directed-by-erik-matti.html)
6. [On The Job, XYZ Films](https://www.xyzfilms.com/on-the-job)
7. [On the Job, Sitges Film Festival 2013](https://sitgesfilmfestival.com/en/film/2013/on-job)
8. [On the Job, San Diego Asian Film Festival 2013](http://festival.sdaff.org/2013/films/on-the-job/)
9. [On the Job, Movie Reviews, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/on_the_job/reviews)
10. [Katrina Macapagal (2021). Men on the Move: Chronotopes of Mobility in the Noir Imaginaries of Kinatay, Metro Manila and On the Job. Edinburgh University Press.](https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474451918-009)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Film noir and neo-noir films › Released 1977 to 2022*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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