Be With Me
Eric Khoo
Singapore | 2005 | 93mins | 35mm | Colour | Subtitled

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 story inspired this film.

Despite being disabled since the age of fourteen, Theresa’s powerfully positive aura dominates the screen. Her life is a prison of silence and darkness, and she counters this by typing words of hope and strength on a white screen, eventually forming the basis of her memoirs which change the life of a recently bereaved shopkeeper. This accompanies the two additional tales of a security guard quietly observing his one true love and of the gradual disintegration of an intense friendship between two teenagegirls.

Singapore is depicted as a cold, remote land and the film employs a highly unusual yet effective style of cinematic storytelling as the narrative mainly consists of letters, written memories and fragmented mobile phone text messages.