This is How Movies Should Be Made

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Excellent, a Must See

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

This movie left me speechless. It is, for me, definitely on the same level as other classics like "So-Won" and "Miracle in Cell No. 7" and what it has in common with those movies is that it also explores human relationships, especially those between sons/daughters and their respective parents. The story is pretty much simple.. or at least, it seems so. A couple getting through a divorce has to deal with the disappearance of their only son. They try to find him and in the process, heal, as well. What I really liked about this movie, putting aside the amazing performances, is the way it portrays the story and it portrays it in a such way that we look at it from various perspectives. Of course, we sympathize with the birth parents and the pain they're feeling but we also cannot help but sympathize with the mother who has now, like them, lost their children. We also feel sad for this kid because it is sad enough to be taken away from your family one time but, two times, that's enough. The scene where Li runs after the parents while they try to take her son away or the scene where she is shoved away by different people when she tries to hug her son are very difficult to watch and we cannot wonder if they're doing to her what it was done also to them. Her involvement in the kidnapping of her son is not truly explained: did she know or was she just lying? We don't know and she's in a complex situation but we can't help but still sympathize with her, especially at the very last scene when it is revealed that she was also a victim, that she could in fact reproduce and was lied to by her husband. The director did a great job by switching the perspectives on the second half of the movie and the movie does not ever lose its focus, on the contrary, it makes it even more compelling. Every one of the actors is great, the way they portray their pain on screen is so real that sometimes it's like we also feel their pain but I can't help but feel completely amazed by Zhao Wei's performance. She completely blew me away. At the end, when there's pictures and videos of the original parents in which the movie was based on, we realize we're not just watching a movie, we're watching something real; we're watching the real state of China where child kidnapping is a current. This movie was a wonderful experience, one that definitely marked me and I won't ever forget it.

we watched "dearest" during our globe perspective class. I have heard that's a sad movie, but I did not cry as much as I thought I would, perhaps because I'm yet a parent myself. But I can definitely feel for the parents who lost their kids. This film has various characters where the different groups of audiences will be able to relate with. This film touches me, heart, first, and then make you think again. Think of questions that we will usually assume about the abductors. That how most would abduct to make the kids beg for money, that the kids will be suffering and pining for their real parents.

Dearest was a great, but depressing film which kept the viewer intrigued on what was going to happen throughout. The two main characters, the husband and wife, were constantly fighting while they had their son, but once he was kidnapped, they had to get along again in order to find him. This movie did a great job of sending the viewer on an emotional roller-coaster. A really touching and awkward scene was when they were in the missing child support group, and the wife mentioned that she saw Peng Peng running behind her car. I really sympathized for her in that moment, because I do not know the amount of guilt I would feel if I could have stopped my son from being kidnapped. Another aspect of this movie that I enjoyed was getting to know the abductor's wife. At first I hated her because she was part of the family that took Peng Peng, but as the movie progresses, you begin to realize that she is fairly innocent, and her husband was the only real bad guy in this situation. This movie left the viewer on a cliff for many of the topics which I wish were closed. The main topics that I wanted to see closed were whether the girl in the orphanage was adopted, if the main characters got remarried, and what happened to the abductor's wife's baby. Overall, I enjoyed this movie and it kept me engaged throughout.

I had difficulty getting a friend to watch this film with me, as most expressed disinterest with reasons like, "I don't watch such kind (crying) films." But I thought Dearest is actually the Chinese version of "Taken" minus the actions and kidnapping triads. This is more realistic, given that it was based on the real documentary of how Tian and Lu found their abducted son three years later. The Ayes I did not cry as much as I thought I would, perhaps because I'm yet a parent myself. But I can definitely feel for the parents who lost their kids. This film have various characters where the different groups of audience will be able to relate with. And for me, it's more of the feeling of Lu Xiao Juan's second husband, the Yes-I-Can-Understand-But-I-Am-Not-Part-Of-It group. Most people will think that it's the typical lost-and-found-then-happily-ever-after movie, but nope. The film touches your heart first, and then make you think again. Think of questions that we will usually assume about the abductors. That how most would abduct to make the kids beg for money, that the kids will be suffering and pining for their real parents. It also make one look at the existing policies that might be erred. Like the police report allowed only after the child was missing for more than 24 hour; the rampant child abduction case in China; China's one-child policy; the guilt and repercussion on the parents who lost their child (feeling guilty having another child), all these thought-provoking questions will most probably be at the back of your mind after the film. The various actors were brilliant in their own way. Tian's desperate search for the kid, Lu's depression, followed by her breakdown and revelation on the secret she had been hiding in her heart for months. I teared, at the weirdest scenes, like when the 6-year-old newly-found son held her hand for the first time. The smile that crept onto her face was as if she had to control herself from dancing for joy . Han De Zhong, Captain of the self support group for parents whose kids were abducted and lost, was, I thought, an unimportant role and his performance was actually so-so, until the point where Tian and Lu had recovered their child, and the emotional struggle within him having to deal with a sudden pregnancy with his wife and realizing that only one couple within that support group had found their child. You could almost feel the pain in his heart when he left the celebration to cry in one corner. ... The Nays The opening scene which was the day the 3-year-old son, Pengpeng went missing, was filled with little snippets and details of a daily usual life. Wandering street cat, the massive and messy power line (tied with red ribbon and then marked with chewing gum) and fighting under-aged teenagers. It would be impressive if these details were related and linked to the end of the film (few years down the road). But they were irrelevant, hence making the opening stretch littered with insignificant scenes. This is not a typical blockbuster film that the public will look forward to watching, as it forces people to look at the evilness of humanity. Like Tian, I couldn't understand how could fellow human still try to con and rob a man who had just lost his child with fake news. With such a genre which looks depressing based on the trailer, Dearest (亲爱的) will be in for a tough fight against The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 which is opening on the same day in Singapore.