Ilo Ilo

Ratings: 6.2/10

Film Class: C 

Genre: Drama

Ilo IIo is about a dysfunctional Singaporean family in the late 90s during the financial downturn. It's a film about the relationship of a Filipino maid and an obnoxious boy and the journey of how she became a part of the family. 

What I'm most disgruntled about is that there's no explanation as to what the title even means. You'll have to google to find out that it actually refers to an island in Philippines, where the maid supposedly comes from. It's such an important aspect that I don't even recall any movie committing such a fundamental fault. 

For all inferences sake, Ilo Ilo could mean her son's name, for one who is not versed in the language. I'm not sure what the intention of the director was, but at least Jack Neo bothers to even put better thought in his titles (and I generally don't like Jack Neo's movies). 

Ilo Ilo can be considered a climax-less film, a soap opera of some sort which brings back few memories of what it was like in Singapore decades ago. 

Was it a true reflection of how life in Singapore was like? Maybe so, well my family never had a maid so I wouldn't know. Was the storyline credible? *major spoilers ahead* Especially the part about the 4D numbers? Not very likely since the timeline doesn't stretch long enough. 

But I have to give props to the cast, acting was credible and thanks to them, I was drawn into this dreary movie. However, if you were to ask me whether Yeo Yann Yann, the mother, deserve to win the best best supporting actress Golden Horse award, the answer would be no. I'm not saying her acting was bad, but it wasn't fantastic. Not sure why she won, probably because of the publicity about her being really pregnant and still having to act, and I don't want to sound unsympathetic but even for that one important scene which featured her breaking down, the shot was so far away from her bed frame that there's no way to really "assess" her acting pro-ness. 

Perhaps I'm being too harsh, but deep down inside, I know it's an overhyped film. I don't want to be hypocritical here and say that I'm proud of the film, that it makes me proud to be a Singaporean, all I can say is that I'm impressed it managed to bag so many awards considering it's not outstanding. It came no where near Eric Khoo's 2005 film Be With Me which till this very day, haunts my library of local films. 

I guess no true-blue movie buff can resist the urge and curiosity of catching Singapore's very first glory movie, it's even nominated as one of the Best Foreign Film Award for the upcoming Oscar's. I wish it the best, even though ironically I don't think it deserves to win, I'll be happy if it does. And that's the Singapore spirit for you, conflicted patriotism.