Eric Khoo (Chinese: 邱金海) is a film director from Singapore. He was introduced to the world of cinema at a very early age. He was educated at United World College of South East Asia before attending City Art Institute in Sydney, Australia where he pursued cinematography. Khoo began his career with short films where he directed films like When the Magic Dies (1985), Barbie Digs Joe (1990), August (1991), Carcass (1992), Symphony 92.4 (1993), Pain (1994), and Home VDO (2000). A large number of his prize-winning shows have been screened at various film festivals around the world. He has also produced and/or directed made-for-television films, music videos and television advertisements. In February 1999, Khoo was named in Asiaweek magazine as one of 25 exceptional Asians for his influence on film and television. In June of the same year, he received the Singapore Youth Award in recognition of his contribution to the country's film industry.

Khoo's films[link]

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Extract from Dr Kenneth Paul Tan, "About Eric Khoo" in Inaugural Forum on Asian Cinema, available on Asian Film Archive website:

"his best friend was alexander the great a set of hard-hitting themes, including a sense of alienation in contemporary Singapore, nostalgia for a humane past, and the centrality and complexity of human sexuality. Influenced by Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, Khoo often features a complex anti-hero as the protagonist of his films: the lonely old man who commits suicide on his birthday in Symphony 92.4, the pork-seller in Carcass who takes comfort in television dramas and regular sex with a prostitute, the outcast necrophilic hawker in Mee Pok Man, the model citizen who breaks down in 12 Storeys - all dysfunctional individuals struggling to cope in a rigid and yet fast-paced society administered by harsh norms. Khoo usually captures grittier, less sanitized images of Singapore's underbelly that contrast starkly with the projected images of tourism-hungry Singapore. Yet, Khoo possesses the remarkable ability to invest tremendous aesthetic beauty into the dilapidated back alleys, crumbling old buildings, and seedy prostitute dens, without trivializing them.

In many ways, Khoo is a public intellectual who, through his films, raises a critical awareness among his audience of their own conditions of existence, or at least of other people's conditions of existence."

[edit] Mee Pok Man, 12 Storeys, Be with Me and My Magic

Khoo is famous for his four critically acclaimed feature films that have been screened at film festivals all over the world: Mee Pok Man (1995), 12 Storeys (1997), Be with Me (2005) and My Magic (2008). Mee Pok Man won prizes in Singapore, Fukuoka and Pusan. 12 Storeys won him the Federation of International Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Award, the UOB Young Cinema Award at the 10th Singapore International Film Festival, and the Golden Maile Award for Best Picture at the 17th Hawaii International Films Festival. 12 Storeys was also the first Singapore film to be invited to take part in the Cannes Film Festival. Be With Me (2005), opened the Director's Fortnight at Cannes. My Magic (2008) was nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival and was voted as one of the top five films of that year by Le Monde.

Selected filmography[link]

Director Filmography[link]

• Barbie Digs Joe (1990)
• Hope and Requiem (1991)
• August (1991/I)
• Symphony 92.4 FM (1993)
• The Watchman (1993)
• Pain (film) (1994)
• Mee Pok Man (1995)
• 12 Storeys (1997)
• Moments of Magic VDO (2000)
• Home VDO (2000)
• Be with Me (2005)
• No Day Off (2006)
• My Magic (2008)
• Tatsumi (2011)

Writer Filmography[link]

• August (1991)
• Hope and Requiem (1991)
• Pain (film) (1994)
• 12 Storeys (1997)
• One Leg Kicking (2001)
• Be with Me (2005) (Screenplay)
• My Magic (2008)

Producer Filmography[link]

• Sandcastle (2010) (Producer)
• Darah (2009) (Producer)
• Invisible Children (2008) (Producer)
• 881 (2007) (Producer)
• 0430 (2006) (Producer)
• Zombie Dogs (2005) (Producer)
• 15: The Movie (2003) (Producer)
• One Leg Kicking (2001) (Executive producer)
• Stories About Love (2000) (Executive Producer)
• Liang Po Po: The Movie (1999) (Executive producer) (Singapore: English title)
• Pain (film) (1994) (Producer)

See also[link]

• Cinema of Singapore

External links[link]

• Eric Khoo website
• Zhao Wei Films
• Eric Khoo at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview with Eric Khoo
• Biography

Be with Me is a 2005 Singaporean drama film directed by Eric Khoo. The film is inspired by the life of deaf-and-blind teacher Theresa Poh Lin Chan. It premiered as the Director's Fortnight selection in the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. It was also the official entry from Singapore for the 78th Academy Awards in the foreign language category. In December 2005, the Academy body disqualified the film on grounds that the dialogue is mainly in English.^[1] Out of 93 minutes, the film only has two and a half minutes of dialogue.

Be with Me is the first film in Singapore to explicitly feature a lesbian relationship.^{[citation needed]}

Cast[link]

• Ng Sway Ah as Father
• Sanwan Bin Rais as Security Supervisor
• Theresa Poh Lin Chan as Herself
• John Choong as Sam's father
• Elizabeth Choy as Herself
• Leong Kooi Eng as Mother
• Lim Poey Huang as Jackie's mother
• Seet Keng Yew as Fatty Koh
• Shaun Koh as Sam's brother
• Ezann Lee as Jackie
• Poh Huat Lim as Brother
• Sherry Lim as Sam's mother
• Toh Cheng Onn as Neighbour
• Lynn Poh as Ann
• Chiew Sung Ching as Shopkeeper
• Jason Tan as Brian
• Royston Tan
• Samantha Tan as Sam
• Maximilan Wong as Neighbour's son
• Lawrence Yong

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Be with Me at the Internet Movie Database
• Be with Me at AllRovi

v t e Cinema of Singapore Actors Films A-Z Films of 1990s to 2009 Films of 2010 Films of 2011 Directors Screenwriters Producers Films by gross takings Films set in Singapore Cinemas Festivals Studios

This article about a 2000s romance film is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Me, Myself & Irene is a 2000 American comedy film directed by the Farrelly brothers, and starring Jim Carrey and Renée Zellweger. Chris Cooper, Robert Forster, Richard Jenkins, Daniel Greene, Anthony Anderson, Jerod Mixon, and Mongo Brownlee co-star. The film is about a Rhode Island state trooper named Charlie who, after years of continuously suppressing his rage and feelings, suffers a psychotic breakdown which results in a second personality, Hank.

Plot[link]

Charlie Baileygates (Jim Carrey) is an 18-year veteran Rhode Island State Police trooper who has been taken advantage of by people throughout most of his life. Immediately after his marriage, his wife, Layla (Traylor Howard), cheats on him with a dwarf African-American limousine driver, named Shonté (Tony Cox), who, like Layla, is a member of the high IQ group Mensa. Although Charlie's friends try informing him of his wife's infidelity, he still denies the possibility. One year later, Layla abandons Charlie and runs off with Shonté; leaving Charlie to raise three biracial sons who are the products of Layla's adulterous affair with the limo driver. Charlie never sees his wife again. Charlie raises his illegitimate triplet sons using very vulgar language and spoiling them with sweets and unbalanced diets. Charlie's three sons become obese and foul-mouthed young adults, but they are also highly intelligent (like their real father) and they treat Charlie much better than anyone else. His wife's affair and abandonment leaves Charlie so emotionally damaged that he lets himself be abused and taken advantage of by others. Despite his friendliness and his being a police officer, the townspeople reject Charlie's authority with open scorn.

After many years of continuous abuse by the people around him, his anger builds up and Charlie develops a rude and violent split personality named Hank, caused by "advanced delusionary schizophrenia with involuntary narcissistic rage". As Hank, he goes around retaliating against anyone who has accosted him — and even harms those who really haven't. A psychiatrist prescribes a medicine to keep Hank suppressed.

Believing that Charlie needs a vacation, his commanding officer (Robert Forster), orders him to escort a woman named Irene Waters (Renée Zellweger) from Rhode Island to Massena, New York, because she reportedly committed a hit-and-run. Irene insists the hit-and-run accusation was created by Dickie, Irene's mob-connected ex-boyfriend, and corrupt police officers in his employ. When some hit men arrive with a contract on Irene's life, Charlie agrees to help her escape, while a United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agent is killed by the hit men. Charlie leaves his medicine behind, causing his alter ego, Hank, to surface any time he wants.

The FBI suspects that Charlie is responsible for assassinating the EPA agent. The FBI joins Charlie's commander in pursuing Charlie and Irene. Charlie's sons pretend to work with the police to find their father, but throw the police off his trail and even steal a police helicopter to get to Charlie before the police do.

Along the way, Irene and Charlie grow close. However, Hank's random appearances both disgust and frighten Irene. Hank's aggression and resourcefulness aid in their survival, but Irene finds herself attracted to Charlie. Hank tells Irene the truth about Charlie's life, and how years of humiliation have destroyed Charlie's confidence as a man and a police officer. Hank has plastic surgery performed on Charlie's face, and uses hours of careful cunning to trick Irene into sleeping with him by posing as the good-natured Charlie. They meet a mild-mannered but mysterious young man named Whitey (who has pale skin and white-blonde hair). They continue their journey as a trio, until Whitey calmly tells Charlie the (fictional) story of how he brutally murdered his entire family. Charlie and Irene, frightened by this, sneak away in the night.

Meanwhile, Dickie orders corrupt agents to kill both Charlie and Irene. After they fail, Dickie decides to settle the matter himself. During the confrontation with Dickie, Charlie finally manages to eliminate the alternate personality and regain the courage to rescue Irene. Eventually, he manages to stop Dickie, but only after Dickie shoots off one of Charlie's thumbs. Charlie is also aided in the fight by Whitey, who reappears to throw a lawn dart into Dickie's back. With Hank gone, and Dickie's crew dead or behind bars, Irene is finally free to return to her old life. However, just after she drives away from Charlie's house, the Rhode Island State Police fakes an arrest on her and gives Charlie a chance to propose to her.

Cast[link]

• Jim Carrey as Charlie Baileygates/Hank Evans
• Renée Zellweger as Irene P. Waters
• Chris Cooper as Lt. Gerke
• Robert Forster as Colonel Partington
• Richard Jenkins as Agent Boshane
• Zen Gesner as Agent Peterson
• Michael Bowman as Casper/Whitey/Milky
• Daniel Greene as Dickie Thurman
• Anthony Anderson as Jamal Baileygates
• Mongo Brownlee as Lee Harvey Baileygates
• Jerod Mixon as Shonté Jr. Baileygates
• Tony Cox as Shonté Jackson
• Steve Tyler as Delivery Room Doctor
• Traylor Howard as Layla Baileygates
• Richard Tyson as Gun shop owner
• Cam Neely as Trooper Sea Bass
• Ezra Buzzington as Disabled guy
• Lin Shaye (deleted scenes) as Mrs. Caleron
• Lina Teal as Bikini girl
• Richard Pryor and Chris Rock (archive footage, uncredited) as Stand-up comedians on TV
• Anna Kournikova and Cam Neely appear in cameo roles

[edit] Music

The film's original score was written by Pete Yorn, while the movie's soundtrack contains several covers of Steely Dan songs performed by other bands. Examples are Smash Mouth's cover of "Do It Again", Ben Folds Five's cover of "Barrytown", and Marvelous 3's cover of "Reelin' in the Years". Other songs include "Breakout" by Foo Fighters, "Totalimmortal", originally by AFI but covered by The Offspring, "The World Ain't Slowin' Down" by Ellis Paul, and "Strange Condition" by Pete Yorn.

1. "Breakout" - Foo Fighters
2. "Do It Again"+ - Smash Mouth
3. "Deep Inside of You" - Third Eye Blind
4. "Totalimmortal" - The Offspring
5. "The World Ain't Slowin' Down" - Ellis Paul
6. "Any Major Dude Will Tell You"+ - Wilco
7. "Only A Fool Would Say That"+ - Ivy
8. "Can't Find The Time To Tell You" - Hootie & The Blowfish
9. "Bodhisattva"+ - Brian Setzer Orchestra
10. "Bad Sneakers"+ - The Push Stars
11. "Reelin' In The Years"+ - Marvelous 3
12. "Strange Condition" - Pete Yorn
13. "Barrytown"+ - Ben Folds Five
14. "Razor Boy"+ - Billy Goodrum
15. "Where He Can Hide" - Tom Wolfe

+Steely Dan cover

"Motherfucker" by The Dwarves, "Fire Like This" by Hardknox, "Don't Say You Don't Remember" by Beverly Bremers, "The Perpetrator" by Hipster Daddy-O and the Handgrenades, and "Hem of Your Garment" by Cake were included in the movie but not on the soundtrack. Pete Yorn's, Just Another can also be heard it the background, during the scene where they discuss Hank's Idea. Other songs, that appeared in the film are not included on the soundtrack album.

Reception[link]

Box office[link]

The film had the biggest opening on the weekend of June 23, 2000 making US$24.2 million in its opening weekend. The film earned $90,570,999 in the United States, and a further $58,700,000 internationally for a worldwide total of $149,270,999.

[edit] Critical response

The film received generally mixed reviews. Review website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 48%, based on 96 reviews, and an average rating of 5.3/10, with the consensus that "The Farrellys manage to produce some laughs with Irene, but the jokes have become tired." ^[1]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Me, Myself & Irene

• Me, Myself & Irene at the Internet Movie Database
• Me, Myself & Irene at AllRovi
• Me, Myself & Irene at Box Office Mojo
• Me, Myself & Irene at Rotten Tomatoes