ILO ILO DEMONSTRATES WHY SINGAPOREANS ARE UNHAPPY AND NEVER SMILE
The Chinese title translates “Mom and Dad Are Not Home,” but the English title is the name of a town in the Philippines. Singaporean middle class parents of 10-year-old Jiale (played by Koh Jia Ler) have just hired Teresa (Angeli Bayani), a Filipino maid who leaves her own son behind in Iloilo, Panay Island, to make money for her family. The year is 1997. The economy is uncertain, as various countries in Asia experience economic meltdowns, and some in Singapore are losing their jobs. Their materialistic outlook is without any sign of joy of living. The wife (Yann Yann Yeo) constantly criticizes, often but not always for a good reason. The husband (Tian Wen Chen) secretly smokes and is a failure at business. Jiale, a naughty boy at school who is caned in front of his schoolmates at one point, at first resents the maid, but in time learns that she is the only happy person he has ever met, and the two bond after she cares for him due to an accident caused by his impulsiveness. The film could be interpreted as a critique that life in nondescript Singapore is so dreary that there is ample cause to migrate elsewhere. [Spoiler alert: But the one who involuntarily exits the country at the end of the film breaks up the only true friendship featured in the film.] A product of the Singapore Film Commission, Ilo Ilo is directed by Anthony Chen. MH