Hear Me (2009)

Deaf sisters Xiao Peng and Yang Yang work to support each other in every way possible.  Xiao Peng is working to become an all-star swimmer in the Deaflympics, and Yang Yang is always there to cheer her sister on.  One day at swim practice, a boy named Tian Kuo comes delivering lunchboxes to the swim team.  He immediately takes an interest in Yang Yang, and the two quickly develop a relationship.  However, as time goes on, Yang Yang begins to question whether a hearing person and a deaf person can have a working relationship and whether or not Tian Kuo is willing to stick it out for the long haul.




Oh, my gosh.  I love this movie.  I'm so excited to talk about it, but first, the cast:

• Eddie Peng as Tian Kuo
• Ivy Chen as Yang Yang
• Chen Yan Xi as Xiao Peng

As with Spellbound there are only a few actors with parts that are important enough in the movie to name.  First off, we have Eddie Peng as Tian Kuo, the lovable dork.  I feel a bit like a broken record for saying this, but once again I didn't know anything about Eddie Peng or his work until I saw this movie.  Oh, boy, is he good at being dorky.  Not just goofy either.  Dorky.  Granted, he can seem a bit immature at times, and this can be a little distracting, but all in all, Eddie brings on the dorky in just the right mix of silly and serious.  He reminds me a bit of a high school boy trying to get up the courage and wherewithal to go tell the girl how he feels.  All around a very lovable character.

For the other half of the main couple we have Ivy Chen playing Yang Yang.  Now, unlike most of the other people I talk about on here, I have heard of Ivy Chen.  I have also seen her act.  She's pretty good at it too.  Ivy brings the right amount of innocence and maturity to Yang Yang to offset Tian Kuo's dorkiness, which provides a nice balance throughout the movie.  The other thing that stands out about Yang Yang is how good Ivy is at speaking sign language.  I don't know really anything about Taiwanese Sign Language, but I do know a few things about American Sign Language and I gotta say, as someone with small hands that didn't grow up learning ASL, it's really hard.  It's hard enough to do all the signs in the right order with the right facial expressions, but it's even harder to do it quickly.  I give all the people in this movie extra props for making the sign language look as natural and smooth as they did, because I can assure you most of them, if not all of them, are hearing.

But if you're gonna talk about someone who did a good job with sign language, you have to look at Chen Yan Xi playing Xiao Peng.  All of Xiao Peng's dialogue is in sign.  In addition to this, Xiao Peng is a very emotion-driven character (okay, that might be a tad obvious).  Yan Xi does a fantastic job pouring the emotion into the character without "saying" a word.  She conveys all the nuances of how the character feels through facial expression and body language alone (pretty much).  She's just awesome.

Now we come to the writing portion of the review.  This movie is well written...mostly.  There are a few scenes that are somewhat corny and/or just a little bit weak, but all in all, it is a well-written piece.  The story is two-fold: it focuses on the romance between Tian Kuo and Yang Yang and the bond between Yang Yang and Xiao Peng.  On the former, I will say that it is cute, goofy, and all around heartwarming.  It is definitely the lesser of the two focuses of the movie, however.  The romance in this movie serves to be more of a stage for the issues addressed in this movie, rather than the actual issue at hand.  It is definitely funny and lighthearted though, especially as you see Tian Kuo trying to tell Yang Yang that he likes her when she isn't paying attention (literally or figuratively).

But on the other focus of this movie, the bond between the sisters, it's so well done I'm not even sure what to add.  It is clear throughout the movie that Yang Yang and Xiao Peng depend on each other and they mean everything to one another.  That comes through very well both in the writing and the acting (as I said before).  There is a time in the movie when the bond between sisters is tested and that makes for what I think is the most emotional and moving scene in the whole movie.  So all around, fantastic writing.

Warning time.  There's nothing really in this movie to warn you about.  There's no sex at all (the one scene that could be considered suggestive is played for laughs).  Nothing really of note.

On the flip side though, this movie does have a very strong message about family and what it means to be supportive of someone.  It also tackles some of the issues that the deaf often face in today's society in any part of the world.  Not very often do I find a movie that does that so well.

My final comments come down to this: I really, really, REALLY love this movie.  I've seen it probably fifteen or so times and I will probably watch it again in the next couple of weeks.  This is a great feel-good movie.  If you're looking for a story that has heart to it, cute characters, and a really interesting ending, this is the movie for you.  It's a heartwarming tale that will leave you smiling non-stop long after it ends.