Iloilo is connected with the housemaid in Singapore played by Angeli Bayani, who affects the lives of a Mr. and Mrs Lim and their son. But, ironically, Iloilo is not even mentioned at all in the course of the story.
Angeli plays Teresa or Terry, hired by a couple since both mom (who’s pregnant with a second child) and dad are working and they have an unruly ten-year old son to attend to. The story is based by writer-director Anthony Chen on his own personal experiences with their househelp who is from Iloilo.
The narrative unfolds with much subtlety, with Chen trusting his audience would understand everything without being very wordy. It’s also told without resorting to mawkish oversentimentality.
Through the production design that shows electronic devices like the Tamagotchi and the Walkman, we know that the film is set in the 1990s. But despite the economy of his style, the director manages to give the four major characters his/her own personal story. Much of the story happens in the family’s high-rise apartment and in the boy’s school.
All the actors render excellent jobs, starting with the tired and problematic mom, played by Yeo Yann Yann who’s best known for another acclaimed Singaporean family drama, “Singapore Dreaming”. She helps handle the retrenchment of so many employees in their company during the 90s financial crisis, but still has to attend to her motherly duties with her son who’s always getting into trouble in school and later bonds better with their outsider helper than with her. Feeling neck-deep with problems, she attends this self-development course which turns out to be a sham.
Chen Tianwen as the father who loses his job as a salesman and also loses their money in the stock market, likewise excels in his role.
Angeli equally shines as the servant who early on refuses to be bullied by her mischievous ward, leaving her own drunkard husband and baby boy behind in her home province. Through her and other Filipinas she meets, we learn about the sacrifices Pinay domestic helpers do while working in a foreign land. In the case of Teresa, she slowly wins the affection of her naughty ward when he is hit by a car and he helps him take a bath. Later on, in a party, she is made to sit outside the function room where the party is held, but Jiale chooses to sit with her.
Even the father becomes close to her, confiding to her that he has gone back to smoking, which his wife detests. This is nothing short of amazing since she stayed with the family only for a few months. The mom is already pregnant when she arrives and still has not delivered her baby when she left back for the Philippines.
Koh Jia Ler as Jiale is not the usual pesky but cute and charming child actor we have in local movies. But he performs without affectation and ultimately wins us as the boy who becomes fond of their helper. He delivers a knockout performance as we journey with him and Angeli (who he calls auntie) from feelings of hostility (especially when he is asked to share his room with the maid) to mutual respect and love.
“Iloilo” is a good example of an artistic film that can also be very commercial, unlike some of our own local indie films that bank mainly on bizarre film language that can be understood only by the people who make them.
Despite the many problems (mainly financial) of the characters in it, the film ends with hope showing the birth of the mom’s new baby. Too bad that when we saw it at SM North EDSA, there were only a handful of us viewers. So if you’re a serious film aficionado, catch it before it disappears from local theaters.
