The trailer for Erik Matti‘s On The Job: The Missing 8 has dropped ahead of its premiere at the 2021 Venice International Film Festival — and it looks great.
I’ve developed a sort of distaste for Matti’s recent detours, especially A Girl and a Guy (check out my Pervision pod with Tristan and Emil on it), but this piece clearly comes from the guy who paints a spot-on depiction of social wrongs (On The Job) and not from someone who belabors it for style points (BuyBust).
Directing a screenplay written by his partner, Michiko Yamamato (Honor Thy Father), The Missing 8 looks like a return to form and an opportunity to revisit its predecessors’ ideas. The timing is ripe, especially with the Duterte administration’s objectively failed attempt to eliminate drugs in the country (his campaign promise) at the cost of thousands of Filipinos’ lives.
The synopsis for the film reads:
“This sequel to On the Job (2013) focuses on corruption and media censorship now that a new strongman, Duterte, is in power in the Philippines.”
— IMDB.com
The film stars John Arcilla, Christopher De Leon, Denis Trillo, Lotlot De Leon, Dante Rivero, Soliman Cruz, Christopher de Leon, Agot Isidro, and Leo Martinez among others.
On The Job: The Missing 8 is set to premiere at the 2021 Venice International Film Festival on September 10, 2021. It will be available for streaming as part of a 6-episode HBO GO series on September 12, 2021.
