Plot Summary
Set in Singapore during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Ilo Ilo chronicles the day-to-day drama of the Lim family - troublesome grade-schooler Jiale and his overstressed parents, Teck and Hwee Leng. Comfortably middle class and with another baby on the way, they hire Teresa, a Filipino immigrant, as a live-in maid and nanny. An outsider in both the family and Singapore itself, Teresa initially struggles to manage Jiale's antics and find her footing in her new community. The two eventually form a unique bond, but just as Teresa becomes an unspoken part of the family, unforeseen circumstances in an uncertain economy will challenge the new normal yet again.
Credits
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Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews
TOMATOMETER
100%- Reviews Counted: 32
- Fresh: 32
- Rotten: 0
- Average Rating: 8.1/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Fresh: By the end of a movie that could have been a tear-jerker, you empathize with everybody equally.
Fresh: The film sketches a genuinely moving portrait of Keng Teck, a failed breadwinner with a wounded ego, whose good nature is revealed in tiny gestures of solidarity with Terry.
Fresh: "Ilo Ilo" is writer-director Anthony Chen's first film, but breathtaking intimacy in storytelling is already second nature to him.
Fresh: Chen's interest has a tighter domestic focus, gently probing the unspoken fault lines of class, race and age that run through modern, multicultural Singapore.
