Warm Hello for Ilo Ilo

Warm Hello for Ilo Ilo
SINGAPORE - After wowing the finicky audiences at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in May, local movie Ilo Ilo has to win over the viewers in the place that birthed its story.

Its biggest hurdle is two words: niche appeal. Specifically, the film, which won the Camera d'Or in Cannes for Best Debut Feature and is a quiet drama about a Singapore family's relationship with a Filipino maid, has to overcome the perception that it is a talky arthouse movie.

There are no action sequences or overwrought emotional scenes that are a staple in Hollywood blockbusters and Channel 8 heartland dramas.

The film's poster seems to be a pre-emptive strike at such possible prejudice against what might be seen as an arthouse movie: Its cartoonish design screams low-brow comedy, rather than what it really is.

At a press conference here last Friday to launch the movie, the cast, too, met the challenge head-on.

When he first heard the pitch, veteran television actor Chen Tianwen, 50, recalls that director Anthony Chen had very specific ideas for the film, including the challenging use of hand-held cameras.

The star who made his name acting in numerous Channel 8 melodramas wondered: "Can this film sell? It's not a commercial flick and has a single camera following the characters almost like a documentary."

Still, he trusted in the director's vision and passion and signed on for the role of the patriarch.

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He held on to this one thought: "I would be contented in this lifetime as long as I have made one film which I think is an artistic work. I had no idea the film would get the kind of reception it has since received."

Malaysian actress Yeo Yann Yann, 36, who plays Chen's screen wife in the film, says: "Sometimes, people might say, 'Award winner? Must be an art film and we won't understand it.' But our film is a sincere and honest one about people. The characters are Singaporeans and are like the people around us, be it our neighbour or friend."

Anthony Chen, 29, admits that he is "quite nervous" about bringing Ilo Ilo back home, but he also makes the point that the film has more than niche appeal. He says: "We have made this small little film that has been sold to more than 20 countries all over the world. Is that not commercial? Isn't 'commercial' a film that can travel to a lot of places and be seen by audiences everywhere?"

Ilo Ilo opens in France on Sept 4, in Hong Kong on Nov 21 and in Taiwan on Nov 29.

Filipino stage and screen actress Angeli Bayani, 36, for one, thinks that Ilo Ilo has legs. She says: "The theme is universal. It could have happened anywhere. The theme about family, love, relationships, it's so easily relatable."

And the backdrop of the Asian financial crisis in 1997 has added resonance for regional audiences.

The warm reception at the film's gala premiere at Sands Theatre at Marina Bay Sands last Saturday night must have been a boost.

Director Chen says: "It was more emotional for me than the world premiere at Cannes. I never expected the Singapore audience to respond to the film so well. They laughed, gasped and cried."

He muses: "I didn't start off making a film for festivals or to win awards. It just started from a very genuine place. I just wanted to make something that was honest - about the country I know, people I know, about this space, about this place."

bchan@sph.com.sg


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