Customer Reviews

Be With Me

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Director Eric Khoo mixes fact with three fictional relationships in this remarkable exploration of the human longing to love and be loved. An elderly shopkeeper tenderly cares for his wife in the hospital, then struggles with deep loneliness after she dies. Two teenage girls communicate by email and text-messaging, but their gay relationship ends in tragedy. A middle-age, lecherous security guard stalks a gorgeous woman at a distance and, pathetically, finally writes her a love letter. Parallel to all of this is the real-life story of the deaf and blind Theresa Chan, a 61-year-old teacher of disabled children. Throughout the film she types her life story with deep reflections about love and longing. Fate brings these four stories together in a powerful conclusion. Be with Me won awards at five film festivals. Mainly in English, but some Chinese with English subtitles.

Be with me, directed by Singapore's Eric Khoo, provides the best of what cinema has to offer: dialogue that is not dependent on words, acting that is so sublime is transcends acting and cinematography that makes you forget you are watching film. It was the official entry from Singapore for the 78th Academy Awards in the foreign-language category, but was disqualified because the majority of the less than five minutes of dialogue was in English. No matter-- the film could have easily won on the strength of its message, aptly delivered by Theresa Chan, the blind/deaf teacher on whom the film is based.

The film juxtaposes four life stories: a young girls affair with another girl, whose pained love is communicated through text messages, a security guard's stalking obsession with a businesswomen, who desperately tries to write her a love letter, an elderly shopkeeper's longing for his deceased wife, expressed through cooking, and the day to day life and observations about love, as typed by Theresa Chan. The stories are bound together by the common thread for communication and connectedness. While all the characters want so much to be seen and heard, it becomes clear that it is the heart--not eyes or ears- that sees and hears.

The actors are friends and acquaintances of the director. Most are not professional actors. Theresa Chan is played by herself . Perhaps that is why this film feels like the real thing.

One has to be very patient with this movie. It moves with its own pace describing three parallel love stories. One is a love of the elderly man for his wife who is dying in the hospital bed and his diffculty of letting her go after lifetime of living together. Second is the story of the security guard in the office building who is obsessed with the young professional woman who works there. He is too shy and insecure to approach her directly as his meekly existance is an outome of the childhood physical abuse from his father and brother. The last story is the love crush between two high school girls and their sexual confusion that causes tragedy of enourmous proportions. What connects them all is a young social worker who tends to these wounded souls with quiet patience and endurance. We learn thru him a story of Theresa Chang a blind and deaf woman living independently. Her story of courage and perseverance teaches all the protagonists an imporant lesson. The second part of the film is extrimely powerful as Theresa's life story unfolds and we observe her life in silence as she gracefuly accepts all the hardships in her life with poise and determination. I would qualify this film as a crossover between fiction and documentary -- which is why I am saying that one will have to be patient while watching this movie. At the end, it all makes sense...And it is a wonderful life lesson to us all.

Like most art films, this one moves very slowly. In fact, when I was one third into the film, I began thinking of turning it off. But I stayed with it and enjoyed it. The end result is that I found it quite powerful. The theme of all of them is lost love.

The film tells three stories that are loosely connected. One, based on facts, is the tale of a deaf and blind woman who, despite her disabilities, learns a new language, English, and learns how to help people. She had a man whom she loved, but he died of cancer. She learns how to live without him. Anther is a story of an old man and his wife who is suffering froom dementia. He is very depressed and is unable to pull out of his depression. The third is about two beautiful girls who have a satisfying lesbian relationship. But then one of the girls is attracted to a young man and still later by another girl. Her prior partner is heart broken when she abandons her. She messages her partner frequently, but the girl, apparently not knowing how to respond, refuses to answer. Then her prior partner sees her with another girl and she decides to commit suicide.

Several stories of love. Wanting love; having love; losing love. Young love; old love; new love. Very sweet.

I always enjoy a peek into other's lives, especially when they are in far away countries.

I have become a pretty big fan of the Film Movement DVD library of foreign and indie films. As I have gotten more and more comfortable with the almost alwasy steady quality of their releases, I will find out less and less beforehand about a particular movie and take a chance. Such was the case here. I saw it was a Film Movement release and I picked it up. Glad I did.

"Be With Me" (93 min; origiannly released in Singapore in 2005) is a rather unique film in my opinion. There is little or no dialogue to speak of (literally), and it takes its time to develop. The movie's first 30 min. starts off with several stories developing at once: two HS girls whose close relationship is falling apart, and the story movies forward primarily via texting and to a lesser degree, chatting. Then there is the older guy who has a crush on a woman, and in essence stalks her. In the meantime we catch some glampses of what later turn out to be the main characters, none more so than Theresa Poo Lin Chan, who became deaf and blind at young age, but nevertheless went on to develop (and enjoy) quite a life. She plays herself in the movie. She is surrounded by several other interesting characters (played by actors).

I don't know quite what to make of the early stories that seem unconnected with the Theresa Poo Lin Chan story, and in fact I wonder if the matter wouldn't have been better served by an outright documentary on her, rather than featuring her in a movie that includes her playing herself. But still, once the movie settles in, it truly is very moving to watch. Definitely a movie to watch, but not for anyone in a hurry.

Three stories are interwoven in this little gem, leading to unexpected finale.

"Meant To Be" is about an aging provision shopkeeper grappling with loneliness. Just when he is about to give up hope, he chances upon an autobiography which changes his life. The autobiography in this story is real - it is the story of Theresa Chan, who plays herself and shares her remarkable life experience in the film.

"So In Love" is the bitter-sweet chronicles of two teenage girls in a love less ordinary. A chain of events spark off a flurry of SMS messages that will drastically rewrite the blueprints of their lives.

"Finding Love" follows the mundane life of a middle aged security guard who has two loves in life -- food and a high flying professional who works in the same building he does. The first he indulges in with great passion; the second, alas, he can only admire from afar. He decides to bridge the divide with a letter.

The characters in the movie are fictitious except for Theresa Chan. Deaf and blind since she was 14, Theresa - who is now 61 - is a remarkable woman who has triumphed over her disabilities to live an amazing life. She is the film's beacon, a symbol of strength and hope.

With little dialogue and very delicate performances, the film explores the eternal questions of hope, fate, life choices and love.

This is a touching film. Well made and well acted, with some nostalgic images of Singapore's little filmed Chinatown.

At first, the 3 disparate story lines don't seem to converge at all: an older man who is a shopkeeper with an ailing wife, the security guard who gorges himself night after night & who has a crush on a woman who works in the building he watches, and 2 teenage girls exchanging text messages. But quietly & largely without much dialogue, the film moves along & eventually introduces Theresa Chan, a blind & deaf woman whose autobiography provides the narrative background behind the different plots.

As the title suggests, the film is about love & loneliness... The elderly shopkeeper lovingly lays out a dinner bowl for his wife who passed away. The security guard tries to compose a love letter to his crush. One of the teenage girl sends obsessive texts to the other one when their relationship runs its course. All 3 stories unfold at the same time Theresa's story is told - about events of her life that led her to overcome her disabilities.

In the end, Theresa's story intersects with the storekeeper's, & the security guard's with the teenage girls', & there are different acts of love, both tragic. But somehow Theresa's story of knocking down the walls of her life looms large and provides warmth & hope despite the tragic events of the other story lines. This is a melancholy but a nice meditative movie that makes you think.

The story is about three pairs of individuals, from disparate background in Singapore, looking for "soulmates" and not having much luck with it. Most of the characters are plagued by loneliness, frustration, rejections and procrastination. By a twist of fate their lives cross path with each other. Under a rather tragic circumstance, a ray of hope emerges for one of the pairs. This movie is quite sensitively directed and the cast and the acting are both very good. The movie is kind of slow, but the story line is unfolded nicely. Conversation is kept to the minimal in this movie, I think deliberatley to highten our awareness of the deaf and blind condition of Theresa Chan. It also explores the different modes of alternative communication: an old fashion typewriter which doesn't type right, email, instant messaging and the amazing language invented for communicating with the deaf and blind. Some of these modes of communication, even though is instantaneous, can be turned into a meduim of rejection and torture, while the slow and old fashion typewriter can be used to utter the most poignant feelings for some. The movie is quite satisfying, but slightly over-sentimentalized (as set by the tone of the title "Be with me"). The movie contains scenes of teenage lesbian experience. The bonous short movie should not be missed.