Amongst the rather dry, sappy cine-scape of Singapore, Ilo Ilo sticks out like a sore thumb of talent, great acting and brilliant camera-work on the part of Anthony Chen.

Nevertheless, it's a flawed film.

The story is loose-hinged - which suits the atmosphere which the film is trying to create. It engages us with the enigmatic character of Terry, the maid, who stumbles her way into the Lim family only to encounter a world of foreign hostility and bizarre drama.

The influences are easy to catch on. Ozu's pillow shots - Terrence Malick's bright light set-ups and atmospheric shots - Ingmar Bergman's face shots and chamber quartet direction - as well as Kurosawa. (The easiest way to note Kurosawa's influence is through Chen's use of door- shots - mainly popularized through Ikiru by Kurosawa)

But Ilo Ilo picks up too much and plays too little. It explores the maid's psyche to some extent but her character nevertheless feels like it was tossed in and thrown out of a washing machine without much thought put into it. We see her come in fine - and somehow go away fine with no change whatsoever in terms of her personality and views towards her life in Singapore.

Thematically it is confused. It plays with many different "dramas" at once - trying to handle the numerous strings pulled by the script - only to be let go of them halfheartedly through the film. Anthony Chen brings up the idea of smoke and alcohol addiction and subsequent marital tension - but just leaves it hanging in the air without much resolution. Furthermore he adds the concept of deceptive appearances and prejudices against the maid - but none of these blossom into completion. The theme of pregnancy is weaved into the film's script - yet the film's only reference to the gestation is the physical presence of large belly. What we get in the end is a half-film, thematically.

Furthermore, plot-wise it is weak and incomplete as well. What happens to the maid's job as a hair-dresser? What does she do there? Does she simply ditch the job? What was up with the sleeping pills? What about the money she had? What of her child and the problem with the Sister she was grumbling about over the phone? What happens to Jia Le after he is caned? There are so many unresolved plot lines - only simply hidden by a conscious attention to speeding up time, thereby streaming away from the incomplete parts of the script. It seems absurdly unfinished.

The characters also are weak. At her fundamentals, the Mother of the house-hold seems to have a bipolar disorder. At one point she hates the maid's presence in the house and doubts her - and yet all of a sudden cares about her and is grateful to her. The Father from time to time is upset, and temperamental - yet is gentle and calm towards his family occasionally. The characters possess uneven, odd personalities that only weaken their on-screen potency.

Nevertheless, the film does boast some solid acting, pushing my rating for it up to a 6. Angeli Bayani does a tremendous job as the maid struggling to survive in Singapore - and I would like to specially acknowledge her for I believe that her performance is a master-class in indie-acting for females. Never does Bayani condescend to her role - always treating the character of the Maid with elegance and eloquent motion. "Yes ma'am, good ma'am".

I am impressed - don't get me wrong. Despite the numerous flaws, Chen's sensitive direction makes the flaws forgettable and the film otherwise. So is it worth a DVD? Yes. Theatre? Perhaps - maybe not.

As it turned out, this is Anthony's labour of love, and the tremendous attention to detail was simply amazing, though not perfect (but what is?), with its art direction to immerse the viewer into knowing we're in the mid 90s without the need for an obvious marker until mid way. Electronic devices such as the Tamagochi game which was quite the rage in its time, ubiquitous pagers, and Sony's walkman all serve to remind us of a time where we got by without feeling the need to be online all the time. And from these little gadgets, come the darting of one's eyes to a lot more clues of time, from costuming right down to wide angled shots where I just had to find something out of place, but rarely did (I admit I nodded when a wide shot of a school hall had the correct President and First Lady picture hung up, something which could have been easily overlooked, amongst other things such as the model used for a police car).

But it is economical filmmaking in a sense, yet big in ambition to tell a story that can, and has proved, to resonate with audiences around the world. Most of the scenes take place in family HDB apartment, or the school, and any other outdoor shots were meticulously scouted and could have made the Old Places team proud, especially when we're modernizing our landscapes at a frightening pace. And the cinematography exploits tight spaces in lieu of avoiding getting something out of place into the frame, yet through its technical constraints came an intimate portrait through tight shots and intricate framing.

What I really liked about the film is how effortlessly the narrative flowed, without the director feeling the urge to be verbose about everything, preferring set ups to be resolved naturally at a later stage, with the film taking its time to evolve rather than pushing its pace to a rush, reining in any attempt to be overly ambitious in trying to cover everything, catalyzed from the introduction of a stranger into a family's life. And on top of that, giving each character crafted their strong, personal story arcs whose challenges one can surely feel for since they touch raw nerves from an unforgettable 90s era.

The Singapore Dreaming connection cannot be stronger than with Yeo Yann Yann's presence playing a pregnant mom in a family drama. One of the actresses at the top of her craft plying her trade on both sides of the Causeway, it is needless to say her sheer acting prowess shone through a role that required her to respond to threats, where her character had to witness the erosion of her bond with her son who slowly but surely begin to forge a stronger one with their family maid. And if that's not challenging the actress enough, her role also deals with the albatross of retrenchment starkly happening in the local small and medium enterprise her motherly character works for, and finding belief through self-help materials.

I've never thought much about Chen Tianwen as an actor since his television days, but it's a testament to the director's ability to elicit the best performance possible from his cast, and it's indeed a revelation that this actor could act, if given the right role, and having his ability coaxed right out of him. While the character had to disappear for a bit toward the last act, his Mr Lim stood for how the typical father would under dire circumstances, speaking little, and digging deep from within to weather the storm, picking up any job to tide through tough times. If you, like me before who is unconvinced by Chen Tianwen's acting abilities, you're in for a huge and pleasant surprise.

Fans of Lav Diaz's films would be no stranger to Angeli Bayani, who plays Teresa/Terry the maid, and nailed her role through and through as the dutiful servant with a mind of her own, standing up for herself from the onset when bullied. Leaving her family and young son behind, the character echoes many of those under similar circumstances, having to come to our island to look after someone else's kid instead, while at the same time bearing witness to the secrets each household owns. And rounding up the principle cast members is Koh Jia Ler as the young kid of the Lim family Jiale, a rascal of a kid, spoilt in a sense, and being the bane of Teresa at the start. Ilo Ilo has their story arcs central to everything else happening around them, and the chemistry between these two performers was one of the highlights of the movie, as we journey through their changes in attitudes that gave way to mutual respect, and love. Probably the child actor at the moment, having to co-shoulder the weight of the film on his shoulders as the unlikely antagonist who jump starts situations.

Anthony Chen has thrown the gauntlet down for local filmmakers to raise their own bars in filmmaking, leading the charge of the next generation of filmmakers who have their unique vision and stories to tell. It's rare in our filmmaking community to find storytellers who straddle between art house and commercial films, but Ilo Ilo shows that a combination of both is possible. So while the film continues to make waves overseas, and prestigious, international awards aside, there's nothing but true testament for any filmmaker, than for audiences in the home country to respond to the film in a show of support through a ticket. And it's not blind promotion - Ilo Ilo is the best local film to hit our shores this year, and perhaps in recent years, that it deserves as wide an audience as it can get from Singapore. You'll laugh, cry and will invariably be moved. A definite recommend!

As a big fan of Asian cinema, then I did of course jump at the chance to get to see this movie when the chance presented itself.

When I sat down to watch "Ilo Ilo", I only knew that it was a Singaporean movie about a Filipina domestic helper working in Singapore. Little did I know that this was essentially the entire movie in all of its mundane glory.

This movie was boring, let's just be bluntly frank about it. There was very, very little happening throughout the course of the entire movie.

It should be said that the acting was actually quite adequate, and that was what carried the movie actually to some degree.

I was sitting throughout the entire movie anxiously waiting for the movie to pick up pace and the storyline become something at least just the tiniest bit interesting. But that never happened! This movie just trotted on in a very monotonous pace, and there was little of any interest throughout the entire movie.

This is definitely not a movie that you will watch more than once, provided you sit through it the first time around.