Eric Khoo outdid himself again. His latest movie is another subtle yet inspiring one. It was actually three different stories running parallel along each other. The central character was a deaf and blind lady called Theresa Chan, who played herself in the show, just like her benefactor Mrs Elizabeth Choy. In fact, the film was based on her life story. But the characters were all interlinked with the same thing - that of true love and showing love in different ways.
The first story was on this young social worker who helped Theresa Chan with her weekly grocery shopping and visited her. His dad crept into a shell ever since his mum died, but his mum was sort of looking over the dad as a guardian angel until he could take care of himself. Theresa advised the young man to visit his father more often. So he went to see his father every week and told him about Theresa. He gave his father a Chinese translation of Theresa's book. His father started reading the book and slowly crept out of his shell. One day, when the son came over for dinner, he decided to take some leftovers in a tiffin carrier to Theresa's place and she was full of praises of the father's cooking. When he told his father that, the old man started to cook more and more and different dishes. One day, the son called the father and asked him to visit Theresa on his behalf as he had to be involved in a suicide case. So the old man cooked his best dishes and brought it over to her place. When she "saw" who he was, she welcomed him so wholeheartedly. When she sensed that he was crying over the loss of his wife, she gave him a hug.
The second story was on two teenage girls. They knew each other through a chatline and started being each others' soulmates. They exchanged numbers and started messaging each other often. Soon, they got involved in a lesbian liaison. However when one of them fell for a guy, she started avoiding the other one altogether. When the other girl found out, she started messaging her more and more, only to have her messages deleted. The jilted one became so heartbroken that she jumped down from a building (the suicide case of above). Unfortunately, she landed on a man. She escaped unscathed but killed him instead. What a twist of fate.
The third story was on a fat and ugly but kind-hearted security guard. He was not well-liked by people, especially his father, as his father deemed him not as good-looking or capable as his brother. As a result, he was often pushed around at home by his father and brother. However, he was very good to people. For instance, when an old lady approached him selling some packets of tissue papers at three for a dollar, he just gave her two dollars to keep without even taking any packets. When he knew that his neighbour often beat up the son, he gave the boy a sweet and the boy was so happy. When he passed by a provision shop, he would always smile and wave at the old man inside (the father of the social worker above). When he saw his neighbour hitting the son in the lift, he wanted so much to teach the guy a lesson. He was in love with this gorgeous office lady in his office building, so finally mustered up enough courage to write her a love letter. Unfortunately, while on the way to post the letter, a girl fell on him (the suicide case of above) and he hit his head on the ground and died.
The film also showed scenes where Theresa was typing out her book. These were the excerpts shown, probably because they were the most meaningful, "Is true love truly there, my sweet? Yes, if the warm heart is. Some times true love ends but it does not mean the world is ending", and the last words of her book, "Be with me, my beloved." Really inspiring indeed! I hope it will win an award at the Cannes Festival!
The first story was on this young social worker who helped Theresa Chan with her weekly grocery shopping and visited her. His dad crept into a shell ever since his mum died, but his mum was sort of looking over the dad as a guardian angel until he could take care of himself. Theresa advised the young man to visit his father more often. So he went to see his father every week and told him about Theresa. He gave his father a Chinese translation of Theresa's book. His father started reading the book and slowly crept out of his shell. One day, when the son came over for dinner, he decided to take some leftovers in a tiffin carrier to Theresa's place and she was full of praises of the father's cooking. When he told his father that, the old man started to cook more and more and different dishes. One day, the son called the father and asked him to visit Theresa on his behalf as he had to be involved in a suicide case. So the old man cooked his best dishes and brought it over to her place. When she "saw" who he was, she welcomed him so wholeheartedly. When she sensed that he was crying over the loss of his wife, she gave him a hug.
The second story was on two teenage girls. They knew each other through a chatline and started being each others' soulmates. They exchanged numbers and started messaging each other often. Soon, they got involved in a lesbian liaison. However when one of them fell for a guy, she started avoiding the other one altogether. When the other girl found out, she started messaging her more and more, only to have her messages deleted. The jilted one became so heartbroken that she jumped down from a building (the suicide case of above). Unfortunately, she landed on a man. She escaped unscathed but killed him instead. What a twist of fate.
The third story was on a fat and ugly but kind-hearted security guard. He was not well-liked by people, especially his father, as his father deemed him not as good-looking or capable as his brother. As a result, he was often pushed around at home by his father and brother. However, he was very good to people. For instance, when an old lady approached him selling some packets of tissue papers at three for a dollar, he just gave her two dollars to keep without even taking any packets. When he knew that his neighbour often beat up the son, he gave the boy a sweet and the boy was so happy. When he passed by a provision shop, he would always smile and wave at the old man inside (the father of the social worker above). When he saw his neighbour hitting the son in the lift, he wanted so much to teach the guy a lesson. He was in love with this gorgeous office lady in his office building, so finally mustered up enough courage to write her a love letter. Unfortunately, while on the way to post the letter, a girl fell on him (the suicide case of above) and he hit his head on the ground and died.
The film also showed scenes where Theresa was typing out her book. These were the excerpts shown, probably because they were the most meaningful, "Is true love truly there, my sweet? Yes, if the warm heart is. Some times true love ends but it does not mean the world is ending", and the last words of her book, "Be with me, my beloved." Really inspiring indeed! I hope it will win an award at the Cannes Festival!
2 comments:
FYI, Cannes already over. Think Be With Me showed out of competition (i.e. it COULDN'T have won anything) but think it opened the Director's sthg-or-other which is supposed to be quite an honour.
As u can tell, I can't remember all the specifics. Can always just google it. But am pretty sure of the gist of it.
Btw, din think Be With Me was all that great. Like I mentioned to u that nite, u have to wonder: were u inspired by Theresa or by Eric Khoo's movie of her? i.e. if u had just met her and told u her life story, would u have been as inspired? Did Eric's script/directing add to it? Personally, I din think so. Felt like he couldn't decide whether to make a documentary of her life or a fictional piece. In the end, I felt the theme and tone of the movie got quite muddled.
And of cuz, there were many other little problems I had with it. I'm sure I mentioned some of them to u before.
Nonetheless, Eric's still likely S'pore's most successful international director. His 12 Storeys was significantly better tho ...
Post a Comment