The Janitor by Michael Tuviera is a pretty good and decent movie. Following in the footsteps of Erik Matti's somewhat overrated On The Job, it does a commendable work in its portrayal of a morally ambiguous cold-blooded killer.
Newbie Tuviera sure knows how to keep audiences glued to the screen with his tight visual narrative and indie sensibility. The guy seems to channel Matti's style, particularly the torture scenes resemble the opening interrogation sequence in a latter Matti film, Buybust. There's also a hint of Lore Reyes and Peque Gallaga in Tuviera's work, both directors being major influences in Matti's filmmaking approach. Tuviera's concept for the film is also intriguing as it tackles the idea of false information and what a man will resort to, to stay alive. Not to mention that the release of the film is a legitimate move to revive the extinct action genre in Philippine cinema.
Dennis Trillo is also noteworthy in essaying the role of a "cleaner". He has the unassuming demeanor necessary in playing a man with a secret life. His acting here is pretty good that he could also very well play a serial killer or a psycho. Trillo is one of the few leading men who could pull this off based on his acting range as can be seen in his past choice of roles from Zaido (a Filipino adaptation of the Japanese show Shaider) and his on point portrayal of religious sect leader Felix Manalo.
Some of the action scenes in the film are kinda neat such as the fight sequence with Raymond Bagatsing's character though the scene was obviously cribbed from the Donnie Yen starrer Flash Point. The fight with Derek Ramsey's character on the other hand is kind of lousy and looked like two dudes rehearsing, not fighting. The fight lacks spontaneity and energy in spite of its obvious nod to mixed martial arts ground fighting. Anyone who wants an artful and respectable incorporation of MMA style brawling in movies should definitely see the finale of the aforementioned Flash Point as that sequence blows away all other gritty fight scenes into the water.
My one main problem though with Tuviera's film is his willful bypassing of seemingly "minor" details that aid in the realism of a movie and helps the viewer to better exert the suspension of disbelief. This somewhat "trivial" detail is mainly connected to how physics or physical reality is depicted in the movie. In real life, when bullets hit an object, they leave signs or marks of damage while in Tuviera's film, when bullets hit a human being, not even the hint of a scratch is shown. Now this is due to a sort of self censorship imposed by the filmmakers to avoid an X rating by the government movie classifications board. Simply put, Tuviera's film loses a lot of edge and impact because of this absence of blood effects.
In conclusion, there's a lot to like in Tuviera's film but it is set in a parallel universe. A universe where the laws of physics don't apply.
Newbie Tuviera sure knows how to keep audiences glued to the screen with his tight visual narrative and indie sensibility. The guy seems to channel Matti's style, particularly the torture scenes resemble the opening interrogation sequence in a latter Matti film, Buybust. There's also a hint of Lore Reyes and Peque Gallaga in Tuviera's work, both directors being major influences in Matti's filmmaking approach. Tuviera's concept for the film is also intriguing as it tackles the idea of false information and what a man will resort to, to stay alive. Not to mention that the release of the film is a legitimate move to revive the extinct action genre in Philippine cinema.
Dennis Trillo is also noteworthy in essaying the role of a "cleaner". He has the unassuming demeanor necessary in playing a man with a secret life. His acting here is pretty good that he could also very well play a serial killer or a psycho. Trillo is one of the few leading men who could pull this off based on his acting range as can be seen in his past choice of roles from Zaido (a Filipino adaptation of the Japanese show Shaider) and his on point portrayal of religious sect leader Felix Manalo.
Some of the action scenes in the film are kinda neat such as the fight sequence with Raymond Bagatsing's character though the scene was obviously cribbed from the Donnie Yen starrer Flash Point. The fight with Derek Ramsey's character on the other hand is kind of lousy and looked like two dudes rehearsing, not fighting. The fight lacks spontaneity and energy in spite of its obvious nod to mixed martial arts ground fighting. Anyone who wants an artful and respectable incorporation of MMA style brawling in movies should definitely see the finale of the aforementioned Flash Point as that sequence blows away all other gritty fight scenes into the water.
My one main problem though with Tuviera's film is his willful bypassing of seemingly "minor" details that aid in the realism of a movie and helps the viewer to better exert the suspension of disbelief. This somewhat "trivial" detail is mainly connected to how physics or physical reality is depicted in the movie. In real life, when bullets hit an object, they leave signs or marks of damage while in Tuviera's film, when bullets hit a human being, not even the hint of a scratch is shown. Now this is due to a sort of self censorship imposed by the filmmakers to avoid an X rating by the government movie classifications board. Simply put, Tuviera's film loses a lot of edge and impact because of this absence of blood effects.
In conclusion, there's a lot to like in Tuviera's film but it is set in a parallel universe. A universe where the laws of physics don't apply.