Director: Anthony Chen.
Starring: Koh Jia Ler, Angeli Bayani, Tian Wen Chen, Yann Yann Yeo.
Running time: 95 minutes.
Synopsis: A family in late 90s Singapore struggles with the financial crises that has hit the country. Despite this, they hire a Filipino maid who has the difficult task of managing the family’s disruptive son.
The debut feature-length film of Anthony Chen takes a look back at Singapore during a difficult financial time. Understanding the financial difficulty is important in linking together every aspect of this brilliant and emotional drama. The father (Tian Wen Chen) has lost his job, but keeps it a secret by working as a security guard while the mother (Yann Yann Yeo) seemingly continuously writes letters to inform fellow employees of their dismissal. Such a focus on work has caused them to practically ignore their son, the lottery-obsessed Jiale (Koh Jia Ler). Money is such an important aspect of the film’s baseline, that Jiale even manages to avoid punishment at school by convincing his teacher that he can predict the lottery numbers.
Jiale is brought to life by the phenomenal performance of Ler. What makes it so amazing is that you can’t help but absolutely detest this child throughout the first third. There seems to be no abuse or anything that would trigger the child off, other than a distinct lack of interest from the parents due to no fault of their own. Jiale scrapes his wrists against the blinds at school while awaiting his teacher and an obvious punishment, only to then scream and act as though he has been physically assaulted by said teacher. Jiale struts about like he owns the place and has very little respect for anyone or anything, other than his beloved Tamagotchi. Despite the financial hardships, Jiale’s mother hires a Filipino maid, Terry (Angeli Bayani). Although Terry is first faced with the monster that is Jiale, he is soon forced to accept her guidance after he breaks his arm.
What develops from there is a beautiful relationship between the two. Bayani and Ler have great chemistry together, and it simply brings the film to life in so many ways. Jiale’s actions are always cause for concern, but it’s seeing how Terry adapts to such conflict that ends up being ever so entertaining. Jiale also begins to learn from Terry’s reactions and we slowly warm to the little monster as his idea of fun begins to be accommodated. Meanwhile, the mother begins to become jealous of the relationship between the two and Yeo also captures her character perfectly. She is both the strong and stern mother whose exhaustion we feel and understand, as well as being childlike herself at times, shown in her naivety in the final third.
ILO ILO is beautifully paced, but is most certainly a slice-of-life affair. The plot continuously develops, with a number of subplots, some of which play out within a few minutes. These are never without their place and reason, though, and director Chen crafts a most realistic and memorable story that may lack a definitive or satisfactory conclusion, but certainly gives us an emotional end that is impossible to ignore.
The script and performances are simply wonderful in every way, proved by the fact we go from hating Jiale, to understanding him and eventually loving the little guy. Any film that can construct the emotional journey of the characters within the hearts of the audience is simply too good to miss.
[usr=5] ILO ILO is released in UK cinemas from Friday 2nd May 2014.
