- Cannes 2005 : Quizaine "Des Realisateurs : Directors Fortnight"
- Winner : Asian Film Award-Special Mention
- Tokyo International Film Festival
- Fipresci Prize/Bst Cinematography (Stockholm Film Festival)
- Nominee : Screen International Award (Europe Film Award)
- Best Picture (Flanders International Film Festival)
Film Synopsis
Be With Me the new film by Eric Khoo (Mee Pok Man, 12 Storeys) is a tapestry of stories woven around the themes of love, hope and destiny. The characters lead separate lives but are bound by one common desire - to be with their loved one. The protagonists in the movie are fictitious bar one - Theresa Chan, a courageous deaf and blind woman whose life story inspired Be With Me.
The Festival de Cannes Directors' Fortnight
The cinematic equivalent of a hymn, Be With Me is a film about human beings and their search for love. In his latest film, Eric Khoo manages toexplore the themes of urban loneliness and the sentimental "spleen''without sinking into a cynical abyss. Neither does he resort to cruelpsychological stereotypes. In fact, the film is a veritable song of hope;it reclaims the real meaning of the word "humanism".
Like a seductive melody, the musical quality of Be With Me has an immediate hold on our senses. The filmmaker has composed a symphony of complex emotions, with very frugal use of dialogue. The artful orchestration of fiction and reality, invented and real characters imbues Be With Me with a rare quality; it's almost like a cinematographic essay.
Inspired by the memories, biography and everyday life of a remarkable woman Theresa Chan, Eric Khoo has not just made a movie. Be With Me is also a testimony to and meditation on love, hope and destiny.
It's remarkable that a movie with such resonance should come fromSingapore, a country traditionally quiet on the cinematic front. The film'suniversality comes from not just from the inspiring character of TheresaChan but from its haunting beauty. Be With Me eschews superfluous effects to concentrate on essential concerns - how to film memories, how to film sensations and how to film feelings?
Finally, we love this film because Be With Me confirms that the bestminimalist films can capture immense perspectives, which are those of the heart and soul.
Reviews
There are at least 3 reasons why you should crave for BE WITH ME
-Les Inrockuptibles
This way of portraying human experiences added to exerts & destinies define today an entire side of the cinema, in the 4 corners of the world. As part of this movement, BE WITH ME is a very creative success. Ahead of the multiplicity comes a unique character elevating the film higher than expected to the extent of the film, without letting down all the romances which make its great charm.
-Telerama
Thanks to a wonderful sense of mounting, Eric Khoo succeeds a genius come back of the Altman model of a back & forth type edifying for the moral. With little means & a perfect framing, the director succeeds in the gutsiest & the most moving narrative bet in a long time.
-Score
In order to know deeply the morose mood of well off contemporary individuals, the Asian cinema is always ahead of all the others. It??s indeed again true with BE WITH ME, straight from Singapore.
-Liberation
Writer/director Eric Khoo and co-writer Wong Kim Hoh have come up with a cerebral solution to the intractable problem of making a Hallmark movie.The result is Khoo??s most heartfelt and heartwarming movie to date. It is also the most sophisticated piece of film-making to emerge from the Republic??s budding film scene.The way Khoo has marshaled his technical skills in the service of more characterization and story marks a new stage in his development.Be With Me is an emotional maturation. His tender regard, especially evident in the old shopkeeper??s story, takes his storytelling to the necessary next level.The movie??s title is a simple plea. Be With Me. You will be rewarded if you answer its call.
-The Straits Times - Ong Sor Fern
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