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.

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.

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.