Forces within history can tear families apart, some blood relatives never reuniting, people making assumptions about each other. Those assumptions fuel Hiou-ui (Zheng Runqi), a Teochew Chinese man traveling to Thailand to confront family members. But that family member, Zia Zeghua (Zhao Shuguang), clarifies everything with a story that goes back almost half a century. That story, also Dear You‘s story, is about Hiou-ui’s grandfather and the woman who adopts Zeghua. Hiou-ui’s grandfather, Den Bhagseng (Wang Yantong), starts out as a tenant of Zeghua’s adoptive mother Lamgi (Li Sitong). What started out as a tenant-landlord relationship in 1955 becomes a platonic friendship that changes lives for the better.

This film is a massive sleeper hit not just in China but in Asian markets for obvious reasons. I may discuss how it handles politics and romance later, otherwise, it blends specificity and universality well. For the uninitiated like myself,  it’s a window into the difficult lives of the Teochew diaspora, which comprise 6% of Thailand’s population. Most of us pay rent through bank apps now but Bagsheng needs to make transactions through cash. In general though, it shows the resilience of two kinds of immigrants – Bagsheng, who has family at home and send remittance letters aka quiaopi to them. Dear You positions him as a complimentary opposite to Lamgi who, despite cultural norms, is an independent woman.

Dear You shows Bagsheng and Lamgi’s relationship evolve as she writes the letters that he sends home – he is one of many that would do this to support families that aren’t doing well in China. This film shows those kinds of international relationships as a simple one where family and love matters. Its postscript about how those letters helped fund Chinese resistance movements can make some viewers do double takes. I also read criticisms about how this film doesn’t push enough on how dangerous international letters were. Those criticisms are fair but I feel like this film is brave enough in showing China’s economic past. Director and co-writer Lan Hongchun successfully tightrope walks the film’s political implications.

The political aspect of Dear You takes a backseat, again, for a competent melodrama with great craftsmanship. It has the right amount of tropes, specifically, a man falling off a bicycle fueling a long misunderstanding. But at this film’s core is a relationship between its main characters expressing different kinds of love. Bangsheng gives however much he can so his wife can feed their growing children. His wife, Iap Sogriu (Wang Xiaohui and Wu Shaoqing), a symbol of, fair, idealized motherhood. Living far away from home, he and fellow immigrants like Lamgi use the Teochew language to communicate. And Lamgi, keeping that language and love alive, keeping a solemn promise, helping families in her home land. 

Dear You is available to watch in select Canadian theatres.