Dearest
Description
Peter Chan’s complex and gripping melodrama, based on a child abduction that happened in Shenzhen, China, in July of 2009, takes a marvelously empathetic look at all sides of the case. The boy, Peng Peng, is abducted from a busy city street after an argument between his divorced parents. When the usual pleas and searches come up empty, mother Lu (Hao Lei) and father Tian (Huang Bo in his first dramatic role) attempt to find other outlets for their grief, including a support group for similarly bereaved parents whose stories also become part of the film’s framework. By constantly broadening the exposition in this manner, director Peter Chan (a SFIFF and Hong Kong Cinema mainstay) confronts China’s devastatingly high rate of child kidnapping without ever losing sight of the central story and its several unexpected turns. When Lu and Tian’s search leads to a surprising discovery at just about the midpoint of the film, the new twist adds yet another illuminating layer to the tale. As one lawyer involved in the complicated case says, “What we lack in this country is the ability to put ourselves in each other’s shoes.” By tracking each development of this amazing story, Dearest expertly creates the space for the viewer to do just that. —Rod Armstrong
After studying film at UCLA, Peter Ho-Sun Chan began his career in his native Hong Kong as a producer before making his feature directing debut with Alan and Eric Between Hello and Goodbye (1991). Since then he has become one of Hong Kong’s most acclaimed auteurs with films that include Comrades: A Love Story (SFIFF 2007), the winner of a record nine Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director; Perhaps Love (SFIFF 2006), for which Chan won the Golden Horse Best Director prize; Dragon (2011), the winner of the Action Asian Award at the Deauville Asian Film Festival and the Focus Asia Award at Sitges; and American Dreams in China (SFIFF 2014), which won Golden Rooster Awards for Best Film and Best Director. Of Dearest, Chan says, “It’s the first time I’ve actually made something that’s based completely on real events…It’s actually not my genre, but I was so taken with the story—the duality, the emotional aspects, how powerful the story and the characters are—I decided on the spot I wanted to make this.”
Trailer
//player.vimeo.com/video/122129306?autoplay=1Film Details
Language Mandarin
Original Language Title Qin ai de
Year 2014
Runtime 130
Country China/Hong Kong
Director Peter Ho-sun Chan
Producer Jojo Hui Yuet-chun, Peter Ho-sun Chan
Writer Zhang Ji
Editor Derek Hui
Cinematographer Shu Chou
Music Leon Ko
Cast Zhao Wei, Huang Bo, Tong Dawei