User reviews

There are no memorable quotes in this film as it is mostly silent. It plays like a symphony with glances and expressions doing the talking.

It is about love: love lost, unrequited love, love despite the odds being against it.

Theresa Poh Lin Chan was deaf and blind. She did not sit idly by in misery, but became an accomplished women despite her handicaps. She is real. This story is about three fictional characters that crossed in her path, some only peripherally.

A man who lost his wife and sunk into the depths of despair until his son, a social worker, started taking his cooking to Teresa; a lesbian who found love on the Internet, and then lost it without explanation, and whose suicide attempt brought about the meeting with the man and Teresa; and a security guard who was hopelessly in love with a beautiful executive and passed by the man on the way to deliver a letter to his love - a letter that never made it because of the suicide attempt.

The strange twists of love are looked at languidly and with strong emotion. It is a beautiful film.

I had heard mixed things about "Be With Me"...The critics, with whom I never agree, loved the film....Several of my friends, whose opinions I value, called it "pretentious".

I usually HATE movies like "Be With Me"....I hate pretentious movies, I hate slow movies, and I REALLY HATE movies with very little dialogue....

Well, "Be With Me" is slightly pretentious, very slow and has very little dialogue. It's not perfect and for the first fifteen minutes I was wondering exactly where the director was going....But it all comes together, and it ends up being a very sad, very inspiring, very relateable movie! I'd never heard of Theresa Chan, an amazing Singaporean woman who after being becoming deaf and blind at age 14, managed to learn English, write a series of books, travel the world and do a lot of volunteer/charity work....and now star in a movie! Her story really makes you want to do something with your life. Obviously, it's hard to make an "exciting" movie about a woman who obviously has a great deal of trouble speaking, but her story was very interesting (and is mostly told in subtitles)....She's definitely a woman who puts the rest of us to shame.

As a side-note, I would like to note that in my home country, the USA, there is a sizable minority of immigrants who live there for twenty years, and still cannot speak any English. In the country where I now live (Thailand), the majority of foreign residents (including many Americans) do not make any effort to learn Thai. And yet this amazing deaf and blind woman (raised speaking only Cantonese) can learn to speak and write English, and write several books in the language!!!! People should be ashamed at their laziness! The other three stories in the movie are more "arty" but all of them are handled fairly well. As much as we probably don't want to admit it, the vast majority of humankind can probably relate to the three stories of more traditional loneliness in the film....After losing his wife, a man loses the will to live.....A girl is spurned by her new "crush" for no apparent reason....Even the slow, fat man with a heart of gold was sympathetic....

And as this IS a Southeast Asian movie, there's even a ghost!! Anyway, this was a flawed film (too many closeup shots of people eating...), but definitely a surprisingly good one. 7.5/10

This movie is made up of 3 interwoven vignettes of people searching for love and connection. The setting is Singapore. The first is about a 61 year old woman named Theresa Chan who unexpectedly finds love when circumstances bring into her life a widower (played by Chiew Sung Ching) who struggles to let go of grief. Theresa Chan is played by herself as this story is partly based on her true life story. She lost her sight and hearing at the age of 14 from illness. She reminds me of Helen Keller. She is spunky and lives her life with more gusto than a lot of us seeing and hearing folks do. i was very moved by her segment. The 2nd tale is about a security guard ( Seet Keng Yew) who is very infatuated with a young, pretty executive (Lynn Poh) who works in the same office building. This sweet soul reminded me a little of Quasimodo, whose Esmeralda is oblivious to his existence. The last tells the tale of 2 teenage school girls who strike up a friendship while chatting on the internet. They meet and fall in love. Soon Sam (Samantha Tan) decides to callously drop Jackie (Ezann Lee), but Jackie cannot let go.

This is a lovely, poignant piece. If you have loved, or loved and lost, or experienced the pain of unrequited love or been jilted, something will resonate with you, even if you can't quite follow all the dialog. Just allow your heart to feel.

When the credits suddenly rolled and the film came to an unexpected end, i thought,"Wait, stop, i need a moment here. Can i please have a moment? My tears have not dried."

A very inspiring Singapore film "Be with Me" poetically explores the human desire of longing for love. The pictures shows a elder shopkeeper moans his passing wife, a fat awkward guy secretly admires a girl, and two high school girls madly fall in love, then maybe not. Through these three groups of seemingly unrelated people from different walk of lives, the picture shows us how universal and powerful the longing for love really is. Then the film cuts into its "documentary" element about Theresa Chan, whose real life autobiography is the inspiration of this film. Theresa Chan became deaf and blind since the age of fourteen. In the film, Theresa Chan (who plays herself) makes her life joyful and makes an incredible impact of the lives of others, and eventually connected those three group people blended in the movie. The cinematography of this film is simply amazing. It's the quiet type of film, out of ninety-three minutes, the film only has a two and a half minute dialogue. But strangely, it's not a depressing film. When the movie is over, you feel inspired by Theresa Chan.

When the credits roll, the casts are listed under three categories: "Mean to be," "Looking for love," and "So in love." I can't help but fitting myself in one of those categories. I found out that I can't be put into any one single category exclusively. Is that the message this film is trying to let me to take home with? We are all in this game longing for love, no matter who you are.

Be With Me is essentially a quiet film with minimal dialogue and action, but yet radiates a certain degree of power and influence on the audience throughout the course of the show. Three short stories are interwoven around a real-life docu-drama featuring the indomitable Theresa Chan, who although blind and deaf, displays more strength and hope than any of the other characters in the movie.

Did the film make me cry, as it supposedly did to many critics around the world? No it didn't. So you mean the show wasn't touching for me? Wrong. Do we have to cry when something touches the heart? Many times what goes on inside the heart does not translate to what comes out from the eyes. My emotions were stirred and I felt my heart clench at various moments when the characters suffered through the quiet desperation they went through.

It was an enjoyable movie, though the ambiance and overall darkness of the film may suggest otherwise. I felt most amazed at what Theresa Chan was capable of accomplishing despite her most unfortunate disabilities. Not just the physical aspects, where she showed us her astonishing ability to take care of herself, but also the mental and spiritual aspects of her life, where she is so strong in the mind and the faith in her God. It would be so easy to blame the heavens and let go of life but yet she displays a remarkable determination to make the fullest out of her existence. Her situation puts the other characters' plights in the shade and render our own complaints with everything around us irrelevant.

Be With Me not just provides a silent inspiration to audiences, it also showcases the many facets of local life rarely experienced in a busy world where everything revolves around us at breakneck speed. Take a time out and allow yourself to sit through an hour and a half of peaceful contemplation with what is it that really matters most in our lives.

I watched this movie today on DVD. There are several touching stories, I felt I could relate to all the characters quite easily. I was happy to see that it was a "different kind" of teenage love story, the old man's face I could look at forever, so sympathetic it was, and the story of Theresa Chan was uplifting, how could it not be.

I admit there were a few moments where the movie seemed not so strong but by the end of it I found that I really did appreciate the unconventional way of telling a story that this movie provides. That most of the story is told through images or subtitles and without dialogue is refreshing and reminds us that there are several ways to make a good movie. The ending alone is beautiful and sums up the entire film for me. I specifically went into Videodrom not wanting to rent a Hollywood film and I happily did not get one. This is a special movie, forget being critical about the techniques, be carried away by the story.

"The cinematic spectacle has its rules, its reliable methods for producing satisfactory products. But the reality that must be taken as a point of departure is dissatisfaction. The function of the cinema, whether dramatic or documentary, is to present a false and isolated coherence as a substitute for a communication and activity that are absent." Guy Debord Critique de la séparation (1961)

Eric Khoo's "Be With Me" will divide its audiences. For some, weaned on slick Hollywood mega productions and blockbusters, the film's deliberate measured pacing is likely to exasperate, while others, plugged into the hype from the Cannes Festival, are likely to ignore its flaws and sing its praises.

The truth probably lies somewhere in between.

Interwoven among its three vignettes on love/lost/yearning, "Finding Love", "Meant To Be" and "So In Love" is also the semi documentary – on Theresa Chan. Told largely through subtitles, the story on how she had managed to overcome life injustices after being deaf and blind will strike a chord with many viewers. The segment does however come across as being rather detached, causing some of the other segments to be less developed.

Ironically, the poignancy of the film is corroborated by its Singapore setting, where the denizens are constantly admonished to be productive and efficient, and its humanity for the most part, relegated to mega TV charity fund raising programs. That "Be With Me" was able to speak to the heart of the ordinary, the downtrodden, the destitute and the minorities there, may perhaps then be the best accolade one can accord the film.

I saw this film at the 2006 Palm Springs International Film Festival. It's difficult for me to be critical of a film with such a positive message and centered around the story of a real life person who overcame seemingly insurmountable obstacles to help others but this film is cluttered and has too many flaws. In the trilogy of stories two of them are really unnecessary. The story of the old man who has just about given up on living is terrific and this film should have expanded more on his story and dropped the other two. The actor playing the old man was great and you really sympathized with him. The other two stories were weak. The story of Theresa who helps him is actually a fourth story and being true and narrated by the real person as a documentary within a movie is cluttered and slows down the entire film. Her story could have been told differently and intertwined then with a singular story and not a trilogy because that's who she ended up helping anyway. I would give this a 5.5 out of a possible 10 and would recommend it only because of it's inspiration and not as an entire film in general.

This movie is about 3 stories put together revolving around 3 separate individuals. One of the worst movie that is available and even better if it is not available.

The Good : 2 pretty lesbians actress 1 true and touching story about Theresa Chan

The Bad :The main story that revolves around the blind and dear woman Theresa Chan does not need to be told in a movie format and more appropriate in a documentary format. No linkage between the 3 story lines. Minimum DIALOGUE in the film, substituted by SMSs and CHAT programs on PC. No cultural insight by the movie and it makes you forget even before you step out of the cinema.

The film is special in that it takes away a very essential part of a film: the dialog. The director has to use another way to get across the messages, and this is by no means easy. The viewer also has to adjust to the lack of explicit dialog in order to appreciate the film. I sat through the movies uncomfortably. I nevertheless like the film since it gives me a chance to exercise my imagination.

Another unusual feature of the film is that the three parts of the film do not connect with each other. I see it as a way to express the core idea of individual solitude in a modern society. Everyone is confined to his or her own world. It's not easy to confront this unfortunate aspect of cosmopolitan life. To the extent that the viewer finds the whole film boring, it's already a success. Atomized life is indeed very boring.

I also saw through the deaf and blind character that we should not take our senses for granted. Try imagine how your world would be like if they are taken away from you. The character's will of accepting her physical deficiencies is very inspiring.

In contrast, the parts about the security guard and the short relationship between two young lesbian girls are not worth remembering. It's nothing new. You find these people all the time.

This Singaporean movie consist of 3 different stories, but there's a moment when the stories be connected (4 example like Love Actually). The ultimate story is "Meant To Be", a--narrative biographical--story about Theresa Chan, a single almost old lady who is deaf and blind. She conditionally made relation with an old cooker-man who is miserable since the death of her wive. The second, "Finding Love" is about a fat security guard who adore an elegant woman and try to get her. "So in Love", the 3rd one is about love story between 2 girls (lesbian), Jackie and Sam. The idea of the stories are so realistic and touching.I'm an Asian too, and have to admit that this is one of the greatest modern Singapore movie. This movie is lack of luxurious miser en scene or montage, contrary, it's so smooth and soft with it's minimum dialog between the characters and melancholic original score, and sentimental cinematography, make this movie so sacred and live.

I literally ran to watch it, expecting a film that will make me cry, or touch my heart.

What I found was not heart-rending, but a lame exploitation of 1 strong human character.

Interwined between a pair of young lesbians and an obese man.

In a setting that is substantially devoid of sound not to mention acting of the most common.

It was not entirely BAD, as I have seen worst - and I left the cinema $10 poorer but wiser - that a FILM well advertised is not the same as a FILM WELL-MADE.

A rewarding experience, albeit one that seems at least 30 minutes longer than it actually is. The slow buildup is for the most part careful foundation building for the second half of the film, a rarity in Singaporean film and a testament to Khoo's ever-growing maturity as a filmmaker and controller of pace, although when that second half comes, it feels like a jarring switch not unlike the one pulled by David Lynch in the middle of his 1997 film, Lost Highway. The signs are present that Khoo worked to bridge the discontinuity of the 3 stories and the order in which they are presented (foreshadowing and foregrounding of certain recurring visual images), but the fact that he does not perfectly succeed is of little detriment to the final product.

It is a well-made movie consisting of one strong tale of strength, recovery, and the beauty of love bookended by two other stories that would have benefited from being drawn as their own entities and stood up and apart from the central story of the blind and deaf Theresa Chan (pretty much Singapore's own Helen Keller). Instead, they try to conform to the model of sparse dialogue and psychostylistic sense-deprivation that serves that story so well - the result being that they appear unevenly matched. Still, a fine film.

(previously posted at 1minreview.com)

'Be With Me' is almost the ultimate wallpaper movie. Just leave it running in the background. chat amongst yourselves and return to it whenever you like and at some point it'll end.

Alas, as I watched it alone, and so I felt like I almost watched the world's worst, longest and most drippingly sentimental beer commercial by the time I just about managed to keep my eyes open as the end credits rolled; and I then managed (just a) a few more moments of wakefulness to witness a 'Thank you' to the movie's sponsors - which included Asia Pacific Breweries. Aha! Methought: How surprising is *that* - given all the shots of Tiger beer interspersed throughout this most forgettable washout of a movie?

Meanwhile, dialogue spurts between individuals with occasional stabs at depth, but all too usually nothing of any particular advancement to the movie's overall story is said or witnessed. It's as if one could switch off at any moment and return at any later point and you'd really have missed nothing which would have been an unmissable contingency, or part of its plot, as far as the movie's overall progression was concerned. Thus the ultimate "wallpaper movie"!

Well I wonder... What movie were those who positively reviewed this one watching? I wonder and continue to wonder... It certainly couldn't have been this arty to the point of artless Singaporean excuse for a camera's rolling. Allegedly, 'Be With Me' is supposed to be woven around the themes of "love, tragedy and redemption". But all I witnessed was boredom, a half baked screenplay with a smattering of gormless text messages, and the only redemption was that which occurred when this utterly useless movie ended. What a wistful waste of time, it ended up being! It was also said that the characters in this movie were fictitious except for Theresa Chan who is a "remarkable woman who has triumphed over adversities..." Well, no disrespect to Ms Chan, but given that she was such a marvellous & amazing character, why at all did the screenplay have to involve the stories of other characters without the most tenuous attempt to connect their lives together? Yet it still proved to be an almost insufferably boring movie whose highlights included the credits rolling. Rather than tying in the fates of all characters, I really felt that the movie ended up attempting the near impossible and evidently fell between stools as far as any viewer engagement could be concerned.

I am generally an art-house movie fan and don't usually object to slow pacing (of which here there is no shortage, believe you me!!). I hate such movies as 300, Transformers, Fight Club, but consider, e.g., Eric Rohmer as a great film maker. So I hope that puts my criticism into some perspective. Nonetheless, there was no redeemable feature whatsoever in the entire movie's conception and delivery which could prevent one's eyelids slowly drooping downwards as each minute of 'Be With Me' dripped by. Watch this movie if you need to feel like wasting time. Otherwise your life would be none the richer for having missed it. 3/10