
Director: Eric Khoo
Cast: Theresa Chan, Chiew Sung Ching, Seet Keng Yew, Lynn Poh, Samantha Tan, Ezann Lee

The film opened the 37me Slection Quinzaine des Ralisateurs (i.e., 37th Selection Directors' Fortnight) at Cannes Film Festival 2005.

The official website is here ...
www.zhaowei.com/bewithme.html
The trailer is here ... 
www.shaw.com.sg/upload/be...withme.mov

The film, inspired by the story of Theresa Chan, a blind-and-deaf woman, is a tapestry of 3 stories ... 
-- "Meant To Be" features the love and loneliness of a shopkeeper (in my humble opinion, the best of the 3)
-- "Finding Love" relates the one sided love of a fat and under-achieving man 
-- "So In Love" depicts the love between two teenage girls ...

What really binds the stories together is not its tangentially related characters, but its underlying theme. In a way, all 3 stories depict the quest for love, and the feeling of despair ... but the horrible feelings seem rather insignificant as to what "real" sorrow is ... and even if one feels that all is lost, the film seems to suggest that all is not the end ... there is hope in life ... and there is redemption ... and destiny/fate is so unpredictable ...

On its own, 2 of the 3 stories might be kind of "familiar" and "nothing new" ... but strung together with the common theme and message, the film had a different flavor (talking about flavor ... there are quite a number of scenes on food and eating ... how Singaporean ... ha ha ha ...)

A few thought provoking lines include ... 
"I cannot see and hear the beautiful things in life ... BUT, I also do not see and hear the ugly things ..."
"'Love disappears only when you do not understand what it means ..."

My suggestion on the technicality of subtitles 
-- the subtitles (in white) should be bordered with black. against the occasional bright background, some subtitles are quite difficult to read ... 
-- the good thing is, the film does subtitle for those who are not familiar with SMS abbrievations ...

Conclusion:
Although I recommend the film, I am not sure if I would credit the film more to its partially "real" story than to the craft of film making ... Also, one may have to stay till the end of the film before really appreciating why the film deserves a watch ... 

To all those who intend to watch the film, you have to appreciate a film with few dialogues, and be patient with much "reading" (from the typewriter, computer, SMS, letters, and subtitles).