At first glance, Singaporean filmmaker Anthony Chen's "Ilo Ilo" is a familiar tale. A family in Singapore hire a Filipina maid to care for their irate 10-year-old son, an Asian brat extraordinaire. Eventually the boy bonds with the maid, and the two become closer to each other than their real families, much to the annoyance of the boy's mother. But 15 minutes in you realize that at its core, "Ilo Ilo" isn't about family or bonding or love. It's about surviving the increasingly excessive capitalistic world in which money reigns over every aspect of our lives. That's certainly true of the family in "Ilo Ilo," as mother, father and son obsess and worry and fret over cash and income.
Tellingly, the film is set in 1997, when the region was gripped by the Asian financial crisis. Only the maid, Teresa (played by Angeli Bayani), has other things on her mind — namely the young son she has left behind in the titular Philippine city.
Last year, "Ilo Ilo" was the darling of major international film festivals, grabbing more than 20 awards including the coveted Camera d'Or (Golden Camera) at Cannes. At Tokyo Filmex, it won the Audience Award and pushed Angeli Bayani's name onto the list of up-and-coming Asian actresses.