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“Present-day Singapore is scoped in its shimmering modernity with a Metropolis-like squint, and (cinematographer) Tan's subdued colorizations further clue us to the darkness as well as the less obvious hues of love.” - Hollywood Reporter
A tapestry of stories woven around themes of love, hope and destiny, Eric Khoo's Be With Me eavesdrops on lovelorn characters in three uniquely different tales - one centres on an obsessive pair of SMS-addicted teenage girls; the other on an overweight and marginalised security guard who has his eye on a woman clearly out of his league; and another on a dour-faced elderly shopkeeper grappling with loss and loneliness in the winter years of his life.
While these people are fictitious, one character beating at the heart and soul of the film is not; her name is Theresa Chan, a deaf and blind woman who features in the script as herself and whose astonishing life story acts as a mini doco that gels seemingly random instances together.
Opened the Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.
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D/S Eric Khoo P Brian Hong WS Bavaria Film International L Hokkien, Mandarin w/English subtitles TD 35mm/2004/90mins
Eric Khoo was born in Singapore in 1965. His films include Mee Pok Man (1995) and Twelve Storeys (1997) and he produced Royston Tan's 4:30 (MIFF 2006).