Mark Iñigo M. Tallara

Overseas Filipino through the Eyes of a Korean Film Director.

“The Taste of Money” revolves around one of the country’s most prosperous families: company president Yoon, his wife Baek, daughter Nami, son Chul, private secretary Joo, Baek’s septuagenarian grandfather and housemaid Eva. On the surface, everything looks perfectly normal yet it’s Baek who grips all the power over the company and controls the plight of the nation with her money. Troubles arise when Yoon decides to leave the country with Eva (Filipina Maui Taylor) to start afresh amidst the struggle for a fulfilling relationship with Baek whose family he married into for wealth and influence.

Director Im Sang-soo is at his most comfortable here, manufacturing a tale that is less of an embellished account than it is of a sincere, if a little bold statement of how some of the richest families live. It’s a joy to watch him expose the fabric of a dysfunctional family with morally bankrupt characters who try to outdo each other with their misdeeds at every turn. Whether you appreciate the way he unfolds this fabric becomes another question altogether, however. At the very least, it requires you to believe that he’s only trying to recite reality and accurately portray his subjects.

Overseas Filipino through the Eyes of a Singaporean Film Director.

Singaporean Anthony Chen’s first feature film will make its debut at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival next month.

The film stars actress Yeo Yann Yann, television veteran Chen Tian Wen and Filipino actress Angeli Bayani. The latter is known for her roles in auteur Lav Diaz’s films.

29-year-old Chen was previously nominated for the Palme d’Or for Short Film in 2006 and scored a first for a Singaporean filmmaker after being awarded a Special Mention for short film “Ah Ma”.

“Ilo Ilo is inspired by my childhood – through vignettes and moments of the people close to me. I am grateful that for my first feature, I have the opportunity to make a film that begins at home,” Chen said in a statement.

Chen said that his experience being raised by a Filipino maid shaped his understanding of the film he created.

“I believe the universal experience of children growing up with maids is one of having a “surrogate” mother, a friend and confidant. An entire generation of children has grown up in the hands of maids,” said Chen.

Set in the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Ilo Ilo chronicles the relationship between the Lim family and their new maid, Teresa, who threatens to worsen already-strained family ties. Things change when Jiale, the youngest and troublesome son in the family, forms a unique bond with Teresa and she begins to integrate into the family’s life.

Overseas Filipino through the Eyes of a Malaysian Film Director

PINOY SUNDAY tells the story of Manuel and Dado, two Filipino migrant workers who discover a discarded sofa. This transforms their normal Sunday into a tale of adventure, perseverance and self-discovery.

On their only day off, Filipino migrant workers, MANUEL and DADO discover a couch left behind on a Taipei sidewalk. In a life where everything is arranged and all possessions belong to the factory, the couch represents a chance to own something of their own. Aware that carrying a heavy piece of furniture across town is both ridiculous and illogical, the journey becomes an important metaphor for their attempt to make an unpleasant factory dorm that much more like a home. The arduous walk across the landscape is also an internal struggle —a journey that challenges notions of manhood, friendships and family.

A Malaysian national living in Taipei, TAIWAN, Wi Ding chose to tell a story about Filipino migrant workers because he was “… touched by the optimism and hope I saw in them. I was walking along Zhongshan North Road one weekend, and I became curious when I saw all the Filipinos near St Christopher’s Church. They looked so happy.”

Overseas Filipino through the Eyes of a Israeli Film Director

“Jellyfish” tells the stories of three young women whose lives, for a change, do not interlock so much as co-exist.

The most realistic, down-to-earth woman in the film is Joy (Nenita De Latorre), from the Philippines, who works as a minder. Her latest client, dumped on her by her actress daughter, is a short-tempered case study who shouts at her to speak Hebrew or German. Joy does speak English, which is enough in many situations around the world, is learning Hebrew as fast as she can, isn’t being paid much and has a good heart. She convinces the old woman to see her daughter as Ophelia in a decidedly peculiar “Hamlet” (it seems to be written, not in iambic pentameter, but in chanted repetition). 

Director Etgar Keret and his co-director and the film’s writer,Shira Geffen, are commendable, since they bring it in at 78 minutes.