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Special Programs < Taiwan: Movies on the Move 2019 >

Dear EX

誰先愛上他的

Director: Mag HSU (徐誉庭), HSU Chih-yen (許智彦)

2018｜Taiwan｜100min｜Language: Mandarin｜Subtitles: English, Japanese

Dear EX
Trailer
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Cast
Roy CHIU (邱澤)
HSIEH Ying-xuan (謝盈萱)
Spark CHE (陳如山)
Joseph HUANG (黄聖球)
Synopsis

“Adults are the stupidest creatures on earth. Do you know?”

These tart lines are uttered by Song Chengxi at the start of the film as he witnesses the fallout of a family scandal. His mother Sanlian is outraged that her late ex-husband Zhengyuan cut his son out of his inheritance in favour of his male partner Jay, a flamboyant and seemingly carefree theatre director. Sanlian is going to fight it with everything she has and that means she will transform from a nagging mother into a harridan. For Chengxi, a typical moody and naive teen, this is more than he can deal with and so he decides to move into Jay’s shambolic flat, further enraging the woman who has now lost both her husband and her son to Jay. Chengxi muses over who will win, his mother, the mistress, or Jay, the manstress.

“Dear EX” proves to be a colourful dramedy that peels back the layers of characters who start off one-note and comedic, driven as they are by money, showing purer motivations such as love and loneliness that make them emotionally engaging.

Director’s Message/Statement

“Dear EX” is based on a realistic insight into the contemporary repressive society of the world: An average woman enters the eleventh year of an ordinary marriage and suddenly discovers the truth of her husband’s secret. Anger leads her into a state of denial which also deeply affects the the way she educates her son.

We are living in a divisive era. Every single issue can turn into division and controversy. But does every debate necessarily have to end with more disagreements and hostilities? Or perhaps we can strive to comprehend a differing viewpoint that will allow us to accept more calmly different voices in the world that show us that there may not be one single standard answer. Meanwhile, the answer may not be agreeing with everything, but there is something that the film’s protagonists will agree on —— Love, it’s easier to heal conflicts.