Dearest

Dearest (親愛的, 2014) is a Chinese drama you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Peter Chan and running 128 minutes. The film draws from real cases of child abduction in Shenzhen — a pattern that shattered thousands of families across China through the 2000s.

Huang Bo plays a divorced father whose young son disappears one afternoon. His ex-wife, played by Zhao Wei, joins the search. Years pass. Then the film shifts to a woman in a rural village who raised the missing boy as her own and has no idea a family is looking for him. Zhang Yi, Zhang Yuqi and Tong Dawei round out a strong ensemble. Chan refuses to make this woman a villain, and that decision is what elevates Dearest above a conventional missing-child story.

Chan took home the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Director. The film was one of the highest-grossing Chinese dramas of its year. Stream Dearest online on iFILM.