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The way I know the storytelling was excellent is that I never thought about it while I was watching, but realized it wouldn't have been able to care as much if it was delivered differently.
I think all three main characters did amazing jobs. I hurt when they hurt; I hated them when they hated themselves; I loved them when they tried to heal.
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This film says a lot about how forcing people into a life that's a lie, just to conform to a society based on antiquated and made up morals, is ultimately cruel and damaging. Also that things are not always what they seem.
Roy Chiu, Hsieh Ying-Hsuan and Joseph Huang are all excellent.
I felt for every character, but ultimately my heart went out to Jay (Roy Chiu), who loved, lost and loved again, all selflessly.
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Story (7) - The story is about a boy who is living with his overprotective mother who becomes naggy and close to paranoid after her husband left her for a man. He then finds out that his father left his insurance money to his partner on his death. While the mother chases the lover for the money, we understand both his and her circumstances.
Acting (9) - Roy at his best. From being aloof to bringing you down to tears, I fell in love with him.
Overall (7)
The movie was short and simple but touching. We can define a boundary for right and wrong but most of the time, it is just grey. A man who has a hard time accepting his sexuality, and he rejects the guy he loves to marry a woman, only to abandon her for his lover later. Not justifiable but understandable. But what was the woman’s fault or the lover’s? Both were left at love’s disposal. This is not a spoiler but basically the pretext. The movie is just an emotional ride to understanding how every one is just trying to be happy.
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‘ Dear Ex’; A Surprisingly Heartwarming Film…
Directed and cowritten by Mag Hsu and Chih-Yen Hsu as well as screenwriter Lu Shih Yuan, ‘ Dear Ex’ is a movie which will likely not appeal to everyone with its soap-opera style cliches and setups.
However despite some notable flaws and inconsistencies which could be found in ‘ Dear Ex’, the prominent messaging placed upon real-life issues such as homophobia , love, intolerance, teen-angst and familial relationships, arguably presented a somewhat niche plot line with an air of gritty complexity and heartfelt moments along the way.
After his father Zhengyuan (Spark Chen) dies of cancer, it is revealed that the beneficiary of the will is not Cheng-xi ( Joseph Huang) but Jay (Roy Chu), his father’s gay lover. Embarrassed and angered, Cheng-xi’s mother Liu Sanlian (Ying-Xuan Hseih), desperately tries to reclaim her late husband’s money, in order to afford her son’s tuition and the family’s cost of living — a process that alternately entails coercion and attempted blackmail.
Yet Cheng-xi, fed up of his mother’s manipulation , opts to live with free-spirited Jay instead. As Cheng-Xi and Jay become surprisingly close during their cohabitation, Cheng- Xi soon begins to question his loyalties towards his mother and his previous beliefs .
Directors Chih-Yen Hsu and Mag Hsu present ‘ Dear Ex’ with a melodrama edge. Nevertheless during quintessential moments, the directors aren’t afraid to place emphasis upon the narrative’s complex edges; the deeply fraught family history, Sanlian’s feelings of fury and rage by her husband’s decisions and affair, as well as the tragic decline of Zhengyuan’s health and spirit. In particular Sanlian’s change from the niche archetype of the overbearing mother and wife during her initial introduction, allowed opportunities for the directors in order to flesh-out her character as the storyline progressed.
Despite thematic themes hinting that ‘ Dear Ex’ should be a coming of age movie for Cheng-Xi, Chih-Yen Hsu and Mag Hsu placed greater emphasis upon tragic and ill-fated romances and immense pathos for its array of onscreen characters with equal sympathy. However despite Taiwan’s liberal stance upon same-sex marriage and LGBT rights, the movie still highlighted the presiding underbelly of prejudice within Taiwanese culture and society- homophobia and gay slurs often arising during key moments in order to expose this. In addition to this, ‘ Dear Ex’ also allowed some golden-opportunities for character development. One of the most intriguing and climatic in the movie’s narrative surrounding the rocky relationship between Jay and Sanlian; merging from contempt, to animosity before developing into mutual sympathy.
However whilst the non-linear narrative gave a smoothly edited storyline, ‘ Dear Ex’ could often lean into greater problems of incoherent plot holes. Despite some desperate attempts in order to wrap up certain key plot points, viewers were often left in the dark towards reasons and drive within the narrative. ( In particular the decision for Jay to become the main beneficiary, excluding Cheng-Xi entirely.)
The acting performances of the series are solid. Admittedly there were certain line deliverances which could feel somewhat enforced or lacking tact, the main cast were decent enough onscreen. Child actor Joseph Huang and actor Roy Chiu were particularly dynamic onscreen ; offering surprisingly emotional yet dynamic performances throughout the movie.
The pacing of the movie is slow in parts. Naturally it is arguable that certain scenes had to be slowed down in order to focus and build upon characters. On the other hand whilst the storyline did offer some expedited storyline moments, the inconsistent balance could sometimes limit opportunities in order to patch up weaker moments of dialogue, plot holes and character writing also.
Aside from integrating an array of flashbacks into the narrative, it is undeniable that under the directing reigns of Chih-Yen Hsu and Mag Hsu, ‘ Dear Ex’ is visually aesthetic . The emphasis upon vivid palette schemes are brought to life through emerald, scarlet and ruby red tones- helping to bring to life the emotional scope of the movie’s characters. In particular the usage of childish doodles surrounding Cheng Xi, amateurishly superimposed in parts, undeniably helped to captivate the medium for Cheng Xi’s transition into adulthood alongside his ideologies throughout the course of the film. The OST was notably subtle throughout its usage in the background of scenes; a little insipid in parts, but synchronic nonetheless.
Overall ‘ Dear Ex’ is admittedly a niche setup with seemingly archetypical characters and relationships. On the other hand whilst the movie could often fall into the pitfall of barely fleshed-out narrative points, Chih-Yen Hsu and Mag Hsu’s ‘ Dear Ex’ was a surprisingly exposure into the mindsets of its intriguing array of characters, as well as a societal critique into the clashing traditions of new and old in Taiwan. ‘ Dear Ex’ is undeniably flawed in parts, but is surprisingly heartfelt at times also.
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Compelling addition to films about loss and grief
(some tiny spoilers ahead)The premise is in general nothing new – death of a loved one, grief and eventual healing with additional homosexual aspect and Dear Ex does a great job of meeting the viewer´s expectations and even surpassing them in some aspects and definitely not just because of the gay motif. Far from it.
What I appreciated the most was the fact that even though the film uses the perspective of the teenage son, i. e. a naïve narrator, the voices of other characters were not reduced or deformed by his emotional state and age. The film manages to gently sketch the experience, reasonings and back stories of all of them without being too obvious or kitschy. The best example would be the mother – pushy, always unsatisfied, angry and slightly OCD, on first glance the stereotypical stepmother, but through the story you are gently reminded of her own troubles, worries etc. without disregarding her son´s unhappiness or the fact that her personality is not the best one in the world. Which was another exhilarating moment for me – the fact that her personality did not change, the only thing that changes is her son´s and ours (as viewers) understanding of her ( in this way the film abandoned the judgement of good and bad, as it often is with the strict-mother trope; similar things can be said about other characters too).
The story itself is simple and relies heavily on showing (bits and pieces) and not telling. As a result, you are left with a constantly changing mosaic of several intertwined lives filled with not bad but sometimes slightly problematic decisions (the most obvious one would be the dead man but the same goes for all the other characters). And the result is the most beautiful ambiguity. I truly enjoyed how the film played around with the good guy-bad guy thing, turning it on its head. The role of the bad guy being passed around from one character to another, not really sticking to anyone, even when they tried. Same as with who loved him first – it is simply unanswerable.
As a side note – the therapist was wonderful! Finally, a psychologist who seems like they know what they are doing – no ego trips, no motivational silliness or plain incompetence as it is common in cinematography. And on top of that, they were able to make her a essential part of the narrative without portraying her profession in a disrespectful or clichéd manner (well, it would be better to call her a narrative device, I guess – sort of a second mirror for the family).
Overall, Dear Ex is a genre film and that brings certain limitations to innovation or surprises. Regardless, it does a great job delivering its promises. It takes you on a journey of grief and healing, its various forms based on age, gender, situation in life or personality. It is minimalistic and quite simplistic but still is able to sketch a complex story – a family drama, dealing with issues spanning from teenage rebellion and money, through societal pressure and sexual orientation to grief after the loss of a loved one, whether through death, affair or finding out about their secret. The main theme of death of a parent is quite complex, to add to it the problems of homosexuality (and not sounding cheap) and failing marriages in general without oversimplifying is quite the ordeal but Dear Ex managed to pull it off gently and authentically. Definitely worth the watch.
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honestly don't know how to praise it
but I'll still try my best to write my
opinion about it. So as the synopsis
says, it's a story about three people who
were connected to a man who died 95
days ago due to cancer. Those three
people are his wife, his son and his "male
lover". yeah that's right the guy was gay.
Now even though Taiwan is the most
acceptable asain country i knew that
there were homophobia still there. And
the movie highlights that homophobia.
As an Indian person, I really relate with
the movie. Not that I had a gay husband
or something I'm in highschool lol but
what I relate with was how the society
was portrayed. How the wife was
presurized to do some things so her
husband doesn't cheat on her. All just
feels home cuz I've seen these things
with my own eyes and it hurts to see how
backwards we are. The homophobia too.
Atleast they expected the fact he was
gay. Here they don't do even that. I know
I know it's a review about society and
all but that aspect of it was very real and I
loved that. BLs often sugarcoat the
reality. But this one didn't. Well I wouldn't
call it a BL . It's more like a movie with
feelings. It really touched my heart, made
me cry. Yeah I cried. Not much I don't cry
like a baby lol y'all know me. It's rare for
me to tear up after watching some thing
but this movie really made me cry. I felt
sad for the guy, the wife and the son and
the dude that died too even though he
was a little selfish in my opinion still. (
Sorry I don't remember their names lmao )
ok ok I don't wanna say more things. But
this movie really touched my heart. I
haven't watched a Taiwanese movie ever
and I'm really glad this is my first
taiwenese movie. I don't think I'll be able
to forget about this story. The acting was top-notch. It was just
perfect. Every thing was perfect.
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One of the best Taiwanese movie ever.
My Taiwanese friend suggested me this one. At beginning, I was like “hmm, this one just so so”. But when i kept watching till the end of it my emotion was exploded.Lets get straight here. Not many things to say. You should watch and experience yourself. Everyone will approach the story differently.
With me, I have laughed and cried with the whole characters.
The story of each person in the movie blends so well. The acting is exceptional.
The soundtrack is amazing.
Every time I watch it, I realize there is more meaning that the director wanna say.
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Great premise but fell flat
I felt like this had a really good foundation and there's the interesting part about everyone being trapped in a grey situation — it's unclear who's to blame and the answer might be no one. I also just loved the vibe of the entire movie with the child's narration and such a serious topic overlayed with doodles.Overall, however, I just felt like the development in the actual relationship between the characters was paper-thin. I didn't really like any of the adult main characters, though a few side characters were really endearing and stole the show for me.
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Please
I cried so hard I couldn't breathe. Both the acting and cinematography are great. Just watch it.I wasn't expecting much of it, and after watching the trailer on Netflix I thought it was gonna be an overall pretty funny movie with some sad bits. I'd still say some scenes are funny, and I wouldn't say the movie was really sad because as I finished it it's not the impression it left on me. But there was so much regret shown, and yet so much love, it was beautiful and it absolutely destroyed me. After the end of the movie, I stared at my ceiling in silence for a whole 10 minutes. I'm so happy I watched it, I just hope you give it a try too :')
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Painfull, touching, beautifully made... but pain, pain and pain
This was such a painful story so well written, so well preformed not very entertaining so a typical high score for well made touching story that needed to be told and not so much for it´s entertainment value...So if you are looking for something fun to watch this is probably not it!
However if you are in need of cleansing your eyes for protection or other reasons, and want to see a movie that deals with loss, terminal illness, parent-teen relationships, different sided to the same story, pain, pain, more pain... in a colorful sometimes even fun way look no further this is the perfect eye cleanser!
I loved how they portray the different characters way of dealing with grief thru the eyes of a teen with (not so) colorful sketches.
I loved the way this is edited with flashbacks done well and perfectly fitted.
The pace is good, the colour scheme fits in so well but what makes this brilliant is all the realism and the small details... a book, a ring tone, a medical device in the bathroom all there like nails right thru the heart.
The added cheerful music and the colourful theatre are such great contrast and mood setters making this movie one of those few you are sure to remember for a long time.
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A surprisingly warm story about love and family
First, the cinematography is precious. The color scheme used in this movie is really pleasing to the idea and it makes you feel quite warm. At first, I was afraid to watch this movie because I didn't really understand what it was supposed to be about, bear with me, I am very slow when reading premises. It tells the story of a guy who is dealing with his ex-lover's wife and son. The wife is struggling because she doesn't want her husband's lover to end up with the insurance money and the her son is kinda of sticking like gum to this guy. Anyways, the story flashes back and forth between the present and the relationship both men had together. I think this movie will make you cry and at the same time make you feel all giddy inside.Was this review helpful to you?
