“Ilo Ilo,” March 22, 2015 (2013), DVD. This Singaporian film (Anthony Chen’s debut feature), is the first from that nation to win an award at Cannes (Camera D’Or). It is a lovely, unsentimental—but not cold—look at the relationship between a difficult 10-year old boy whose hardworking parents are not home (the Chinese title, The Parents Are Not At Home) and the Philippina maid. Terry comes from the Philippines in the late 1990s to be a maid in Singapore, leaving her own child behind. She becomes the boy’s primary care giver as his parents struggle to get by during the economic collapse of the late 1990s. Unemployment and scam artists make life hard, and the boy’s behavioral problems challenge all. Based on Chen’s personal experience and those of his friends, kids cared for by ‘strangers’ who become as family but are not permanent retainers This auteur film is very well-acted and directed—casting alone took almost a year—and provides a revealing look at the complexities and difficulties of family life in hard times. The short on the making of the film is well worth watching as it goes into many of these issues. See this one,