Dearest (2014) User Reviews (16)

Touching

[Mag-N-olia · 9/10 · 4 June 2015]

Since 2004, most of Peter Chan's films were big-budget production, co-produced with China, such as Perhaps Love, Wu Xia, but lost the precious spirit he had. For Dearest, Peter Chan recovers his credit. Not only The watchable Dearest doesn't become the propaganda as most of mainland films like, but also refuse to be anti-govern picture.

Dearest honestly focus on lost and return. The screenplay is good writing, but a little weak in the second part, thankfully, upgrading by unimaginable Chiu Mei (aka Zhao Wei). Additionally, Editing and Cinematography are perfect.

Chen should thank to his great ensemble cast. Huang Bo proves he is not only the best comedy actor, but also an intelligent drama performer. Hao, who played Lu Xiaojuan, has the most wonderful character, a ex-wife who had cheated her ex-husband, an ill-mannered lady who destroyed her current marriage, a victim who facing the foster mother, and the heart breaking mother whose child has forget her. However, she wast the best role of the film, Hao excelled one dimension of the lost child mother. It's easy to feel sympathy for the role, however, frail it is. Surprisingly, Zhang Yi remarkable portray steal the sense. At Pangpang's birthday party, his helpless and depression should be his award moment.

Undoubtedly, the greatest performance from Zhao, an underrated actress in China. Granted, she has less scenes than Huang and Hao, and the poor support by script of her part, but she control the gravity of the whole film. Zhao shows a complex and paradox humanity in a simple, low- educated personality. Her restrained and spell-blinding acting style would establish her as Chinese Ellen Burstyn.

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.

[tiffanyyongwt · 8/10 · 30 November 2014]

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.

Saddening truth about the terrible state in China on multiple fronts

[Kicino · 7/10 · 13 February 2015]

Dearest's trailer is sensational, showing all kinds of crying faces and I was not looking forward to see it. But I like Peter Chan, Wei Zhao and Bo Huang. So I went anyway. Well, I cannot say I like it but I think it is worth watching as it shows how disorganized and terrible China is as a country. And I think the director has presented all the facts in quite an objective way.

Based on true events, Dearest tells the heartbreaking story of a divorced couple losing their three-year old son in the coastal city of Shenzhen and the ordeal of searching for him. Yet it is not simply a child abduction story, through the story of Tian Wenjun (Bo Huang) and Li Hongqin (Zhao Wei), we realize that child abduction is widespread in China, as with woman kidnap, and the heartless scam of people tricking parents of the kidnapped kids, and the ridiculous policy of allowing parents to have a second child only after proving their first child is dead.

What the movie did not show is what the abductors do to the children - be it training them to be thieves, or sedating them to be beggars, or child labors, or child prostitute, or selling them overseas or to parents who cannot have kids More depressing truths.

But what it shows is already thought-provoking and disheartening. I cried quite a number of times. For a child, it is sad enough being taken away from your family. But what is sadder is being taken away from another family again and could not recognize your birth parents. Wei Zhao is brilliant in portraying a desperate, innocent but determent mother from a remote village who descends to the southern city of Shenzhen to look for her son. Her motive is pure and noble but the complex situation, including her husband's lies has put her in some pathetic situation.

It is appalling that this is based on a true stories as at the end credits, we see pictures of the original parents, the farmer, the abducted child and the support group of parents losing their children. Very impressive but sad because these abductions are still happening every single day.

Another thought is, with such vast geography and disparity of wealth, the quality of the people are incredibly low. So low that they often resort to physical violence to solve problems - even outside the courthouse!

We heard about these abductions in the news and on the net but this is the first time I encountered these on the big screen. Looking around us, so what if you have your kid in safety in China, you need to shop around for reliable formula milk powder that is safe. That explains why Chinese are snatching up formula milk from supermarkets all over the world from Japan to Germany, let alone Hong Kong. Life must be very tough if you were born and being raised in China. There is no system, or if/when there is, it is inhuman and unreasonable, not to mention the widespread corruption that hinders justice. Under this kind of system, it seems it would be hard to nourish caring, rational and reasonable human beings who looks beyond money and short term profit.

The ripped off paralegal Gao Xia (Dawei Tung) sums it up well though awkwardly in the movie: if people would consider others' point of view this country would have been so much better. They have just forgot/ignored Confucius' Golden Rule. How ironic. A great glimpse into the terrible life in China.

Wow, FINALLY.....Congratulations!

[MovieIQTest · 2 May 2015]

I have to repeat what I said in the Summary: Wow, finally we got a well scripted Chinese Screenplay, directed by a very normal and sane Chinese director, played by a bunch of great Chinese actors, and yes, this film was largely based on the true incidents happening in China 24/7/365, and yes, some of the plots/storyline/twists were dramatically invented and inserted into the whole movie just to make it more watchable.

To me, this film has saved the Chinese movie industries in many ways. It showed us that at least there are still some Chinese movie producers, writers, directors and actors who did not want to turn themselves into jerks and clowns, they really wanted to produce something not just watchable, at the same time, they really wanted to tell us something that really happened, happens and happening in China: The god-awful "KIDNAPS" that have destroyed so many families, homes, marriages, relationships and most of all, the hope.

I could never imagine how many of the Chinese would become so monstrous and evil, making "kidnapping" as a business, a commercial commodity, even an enterprise. Those kidnappers are everywhere, in every Chinese city, every corner, every busy public thoroughfare. The god- awful inhumane Chinese government in order to control the population, the Communist Party released a law to force every family can only have one child, and this cruel law has also created a booming business, "kidnap". And this is the story of parents who lost their kids and tried so hard to look for their lost kids. A great story based on one of the true incidents and very fortunately, it turned out to be one of the rarest watchable films since most of the Chinese movie producers had lost their sanity and turned almost 99% of their movies into nothing but farce, turned their actors into jerks and clowns, destroyed their audiences and viewers better judgments and made them become morons.

What I would like point out is, although the actress who played the kidnapper's wife had won 'The Best Actress of Hong Kong Film Festival 2014", I still think the actress who played the wife/ex-wife who lost her kid had performed even better. You have to watch carefully about how she played the wife and mother, and when her lost son finally grasped her hand to walk along with her, the reactions of her performance was just out of the world! And that wonderful moment of acting was so superb that made my eyes teary. There were so many other great performances by this great actress in this film that you really need to pay more attention to appreciate her. Because it was such a great performance, showing how a mother finally getting and salvaging her lost son, there is only one American actress, Diane Lane, in "Unfaithful 2002", when she met a handsome younger man and uncontrollably to commit an adultery and an affair, betrayed her husband (played by Richard Gere), when she sat in the train going home and thought about her possible intimate sexual desire with that young stranger, her acting of that moment, from the moment when she thought about her encounter with that young man to uncontrollably thought about making love with him, the rapid changes of her expressions in trance, her face suddenly blushed; sexual desires made her cheek, neck and her upper chest turned hot red; the subtle micro expressions on Diane Lane's face; the sexual desires were so strong and so real, like what a real woman would have responded and reacted and wet herself when uncontrollably thought of making love to a mysterious stranger and future secret lover....Wow, that....and until this superb Chinese actress showing us how a recovering mother she was, is the 2nd time that I've found myself in awe to watch such a great performance, so real, so true, so natural and, so powerfully touching. "The Best Actress Award" should be hers instead.

China and the Chinese people need more movies like this "Dearest" kinda movies to put them back onto the right track sooner than later, before their whole movie industries turn every movie into nothing but SH@T, an incurable and unstoppable diarrhea!

A warning to the Chinese movie investors: DO NOT USE YOUR ¥¥¥REN-MIN-BI¥¥¥ AS TOILET PAPERS, USE IT WISELY.

Film review

[fezhang-56830 · 8/10 · 15 October 2017]

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.

Great, but Sad Movie

[cacrawford-60825 · 8/10 · 16 February 2017]

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.

Sad but important film

[olrovin · 7/10 · 15 February 2017]

Dearest was a very unique, interesting movie about child abduction and the story of parents doing everything they can to find their children. I have never seen a movie from China before but I liked this one. When I think about China my first thought is about their government and communism. It was interesting to me how there was no mention of communism at all throughout the movie. It is easy to see just one side of a country when you learn about certain "defining" characteristics and harder to remember that there are millions of people in countries like China who are just trying to live their lives. This movie helped me see that Chinese people are very similar to me. It also allowed me to get an insight into what it would be like to have your child abducted and the struggle that you have to deal with even after your child is returned to you. Peng-peng had completely forgotten about his birth parents because he was abducted when he was 3; kids rarely remember anything about their lives before the age of 3 so it was probably fairly easy to adjust to his new life. Overall, I would give this movie 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Dearest

[thmurphy-37414 · 8/10 · 16 February 2017]

Dearest is a very good film that gives you the look on Child Abduction with a happier ending. This review will have many spoilers, but mainly focussing on what I thought was important. It all starts with a divorced husband and wife and their son. They argue with each other, and eventually, one day their son, Pengpeng is taken by an abductor who then brings him to a farm, which we later find out. The parents handle this just like everyone else would. They eventually join a group that helps with losing a child due to abduction, and that helps them cope with a joint feeling between the group members of remaining to search for their children. I am also interested to find out the number of families that actually do find their child after 3 years of searching. Anyways, when Pengpeng is finally found he does not recognize his parents anymore, and wants to go back to his abducted parent's home, which he believes to be his real home. You need to see the movie to know the rest, but I feel this movie did a great job explaining the whole process. The one thing I am questioning though is how Pengpeng's second Mom did not know of how she obtained the children that were brought to her by her husband. Dearest is a very good movie, and I recommend you see it.

A well-performed abduction drama...

[paul_haakonsen · 7/10 · 2 February 2021]

I sat down to watch the 2014 Chinese movie "Dearest" (aka "Qin ai de") without knowing what I was getting myself into here. All I knew about the movie was that it was a Chinese movie, and that was essentially all that was needed for me to have an interest in watching it.

I will say that writer Ji Zhang definitely managed to write a compelling and interesting story here, and it was a story that struck harder as it is something based on actual events. And director Peter Ho-Sun Chan managed to make the transition of the story from script to movie in a very good way, especially as it was a movie that sweeps the audience away with it.

However, it should be said that a running time of two hours and eight minutes, the movie tended to get a bit prolonged and dragging on at certain points throughout the course of the movie. So a more round-handed trim in editing could perhaps have worked in favor of the movie.

While the storyline was interesting, the movie was so phenomenally well carried by the cast. Especially Bo Huang should be mentioned here, because he really stepped up and delivered a powerful performance. And it was such a surprise to see him step away from the comedy genre and take on something with a bit more meat on it. He starred alongside of Wei Zhao, whom also put on a very convincing performance.

If you enjoy a heavy drama, and don't mind one that revolves around something as atrocious as a child kidnapping, then you definitely should sit down to watch "Dearest", if you ever have the chance to do so. This was a very entertaining and enjoyable movie, not to mention quite the surprise of a movie for me actually.

My rating of "Dearest" lands on a well-deserved seven out of ten stars.

Review of Dearest

[magonzalez-15762 · 9/10 · 21 February 2017]

Dearest was a wonderful movie to watch and experience. I thought it was directly beautifully, and all of the actors did a wonderful job. I thought it was interesting how the movie changed perspective halfway through, from the view of the child's parents to the wife of the child abductor. I found both of their stories extremely compelling and I felt bad for both of them as I watched. Though, I felt like the parents were in the right as opposed to the wife. I think the wife buried her knowledge of the fact that her husband was an abductor. She certainly had feelings for the children, but I felt like in the back of her mind she knew they weren't hers. Also, the ending was very uninformative. I felt like it was a great cliffhanger, but I don't think it should have ended that way. I don't think they should have wrapped everything up neatly, but they should have at least said what happened in the credits like they did with other subjects.

Movie review reaction

[japrice-26876 · 7/10 · 1 November 2017]

This film is definitely a powerful and engaging movie. I did not find it to be a happy type film. It was more of a sad film worth watching as it shows how disorganized and terrible China is as a Country. The director showed all the facts by addressing them in a straightforward manner. The film is based on true events. Dearest tells the heartbreaking story of a divorced couple losing their three-year old son in the coastal city of Shenzhen and the ordeal of searching for him. But, it is not just a child abduction story. The film shows the mass amounts a child abduction present in China, along with female abductions. The two parents eventually find their son three years later on a farm with the women who's husband had kidnapped their child 3 years prior. They have a hard time taking him back from the family, but they eventually succeed. However, the child does not remember who they are and has grown to think the abductors were his biological parents, along with a sister who was "found" by the abductor. The police get involved and the parents who had their son kidnapped get their boy back, with his assumed sister put into an orphanage and the abductors wife is thrown into prison. 6 months late the abductor gets out of prison and tries to get the children back because she has grown to believe that they were her real children through the lie that her dead husband had told her about going to adopt the child and supposedly finding the little girl. The abductors wife tries to get help from old workers of her husband who have fled to Shenzhen, but they ignore her because they would be looked upon as inferior if they associated with a farmland poor person. She eventually tries to hire a lawyer and he is reluctant at first but eventually sees the extent to which this women will go to get her assumed child back. In the end she does not and finds out that she is pregnant with the baby of a man who she offered sex with for help.

Chinese Movie about Child Abduction

[sunnysarasota · 8/10 · 16 February 2017]

I learned a lot from watching this Chinese film. I had never really heard about child abduction in China, since we do not hear about that problem there, but not only does it happen there, but it can happen anywhere. This film was unique in that, it was about a real story and events, but some parts of the film were added. This film is about a couple who lose their child, and find out that he was abducted. Peng-Peng(the little boy ) decided to wander off on his own after playing with a few of his friends, and saw his mother in the car driving away, as soon as that happened he was taken. Once Peng-Peng's dad found out that his son was abducted he panicked, and Peng-Peng's mother felt guilty, which is later explained in the film. Both of Peng-Peng's parents decided to join a group that involved people who have gone through the same situation, and they try to help families by making them feel better about their current loss, and also find ways to find the children of the families, by disguising themselves as a tour group, but often times it did not work out. It takes a while for Peng-Peng to be found, but when he is he did not recognize his parents, since he was very little when he was abducted, therefore he wanted to go back to the woman who abducted him. The only thing I did not like about this film was the end. It seemed to be very unclear and was a bit confusing. Based on this reasoning, I would rate this film a 4/5.

Dearest

[lischneider · 7/10 · 16 February 2017]

The film, Dearest, filmed and directed by Peter Chan, was a very difficult film to watch. Kidnapping is something that scares me so much, and so seeing these events and elements in the film made me very sad and scared. It was very interesting to see how the "adoptive" parents were almost forced to react to the situation. The "adoptive" mother grew so close to Pengpeng because she probably lost someone close to her before. I found this very sad because she was unaware of the fact that he was actually abducted by the woman's husband. I would recommend this film to anyone who enjoys a little mystery or feels a thrill in family tragedies.

Not My Style Movie

[magilroy · 4/10 · 16 February 2017]

Dearest, a Chinese made movie by director Peter Chan, tells the true story of a family who's son was abducted. The movie begins with the introduction of the family which consists of divorced parents and a single, toddler son, PengPeng. The son is promptly abducted after leaving the safety of his father. The parents spend the next three years looking for their son, and they eventually join a support group of people who also had children abducted. With the help of this group, the parents find their son in a rural, farming town. Unfortunately, the couple come to learn that their son has formed a with his abductor mother. Through legal battles and more emotional fighting, PengPeng is awarded back to the parents and the abductor mother is left fighting for her daughter, who was also abducted. This movie contains a lot of drama and sad moments. It was very sad to watch a son who both did not recognize his real mother or his father. In my opinion, the ending was very abrupt and could have used a better closing. I give this movie a 4 out of 10 rating because I really did not enjoy it overall, and it was much too slow for my tastes.

Wouldn't Watch Again

[logatherum · 6/10 · 16 February 2017]

I thought this movie was okay, but definitely not my favorites! I thought it was very interesting that it was based on a true story, and unlike other kidnapping movies, it was very, very unique. I thought that the actors were really talented, especially the kids. However, it was really confusing (at least for me). The movie often switched between main characters which I thought was kind of strange, but subtle. For example, there was the little boy as the main character in the beginning along with his parents, but then it switched to the lady who "adopted" him later. I felt really bad for all characters in this movie, and although Peng was returned to his real parents, there were so many problems and traumatic things that had happened that couldn't be undone. First, Peng was stolen from his family, then moved to a rural area where his name got changed, then stolen back by his real parents (whom he didn't even remember!) One thing that I didn't like was how mean the real parents were to the widow who "adopted him". Since her late husband told her that he adopted Peng, she thought he was actually hers, so she went through that loss too, of losing her child even though it wasn't actually hers and her husband had abducted him. I wish that his real parents would have bonded a little more, since they were going through the same things! Although this story followed the journey of Peng's abduction, he also had a sister that the lady's late husband supposedly "adopted" as well. (But I think that she was really abducted too). Where did she come from? Where were her parents? Why didn't the movie even touch on this? I think it would have been interesting to involve her story too, even if she wasn't returned to her parents in the end. Although I felt so badly for the fake adoptive mom and widow, I thought she was a bit annoying. She seemed to believe everything her husband told her, including that she was infertile! Also, how could she not know something was up when her husband brought home two strange kids without any paperwork or struggle? Also, part of me wishes we could have met the husband before he died, because he seemed like a very interesting and scary character. I did like the ending, even though it wasn't really much of an ending. I liked the scene of the widow crying on the hospital floor because it really showed so much emotion and despair, and I liked how the lawyer was looking back at her because he seemed like he really grew to like his client compared to the beginning of the movie.

Confusing but good

[pacoundouriotis · 17 February 2017]

This film follows the story of two divorced parents searching for their abducted child. One of the most interesting aspects of this film to me was the fact that there was very little character development throughout the story. The film focused a lot more on the actual plot and extreme minutia than the characters themselves. All we really know about the father of the abducted child, PengPeng, was the fact that he worked at an internet cafe. The mother? she worked in some nice building. The wife of the abductor was a farmer who became very attached to the children. We don't even meet the abductor in the film because he supposedly died. The plot line however, gets pretty complex and deep. The foster mother of PengPeng and another girl is a farmer who thinks she is infertile, because her husband told her that she was as an excuse to go sleep with other women. PengPeng's parents find him and take him back. PengPeng, his birth parents, the farmer, and the other girl are in the police station when the decision is made to give PengPeng back to his real parents. They put the girl in an orphanage and the farmer woman is determined to get her back. She manages to find a lawyer and fights PengPeng's birth mother over custody. The end of the movie is very interesting and leaves many questions unanswered. The court decision hasn't been made because PengPeng's mother is mid divorce and the farmer is believed to not be legally able to adopt a child based on income, etc. We also find out that the farmer ends up getting pregnant after sleeping with a construction worker, proving that she was indeed fertile all along and that her husband lied to her. In general, the plot was pretty confusing and hard to follow. Also, the fact that the movie was 2h15m long didn't necessarily help