‘Dear You’ review: Chinese box office hit is sentimental, culturally-specific Teochew family drama | Reviews

Dir: Lan Hongchun. China. 2026. 118mins

What begins as a shakedown ends up as an eye-opening and healing odyssey for a Teochew family in writer-director Lan Hongchun’s box office juggernaut Dear You, the latest indie drama to make waves in Chinese cinemas. The sprawling, generational mystery pivots on a debt-plagued Shantou man who travels to Thailand to demand his share of what he believes is his long-absent grandfather’s estate, only to find a deep vein of regret, misunderstanding and selflessness going back to the 1950s.

For all its distinctiveness, Dear You also gives into the worst instincts of melodrama

Lan, who has a significant following in his Shantou hometown, isn’t straying too far from his comfort zone for his third feature following Teochew family comedies Proud Of Me (2018) and Back To Love (2022). And what Dear You lacks in graceful narrative construction and sentimental restraint it makes up for in authenticity, originality and a rarely-seen perspective, even in cinema from Asia. That has helped the film – which began with a local release in Guangdong province and gained traction before its Cannes market screening – earn almost $250m on a budget of $2m, continuing the trend of low-budget word-of-mouth hits (Backrooms, Obsession, The King’s Warden) catching fire with audiences.

Yet despite its fresh point of view and bullish spirit, the central conceit that made it such a hit with Teochew crowds – the culture is unique even within China – could curdle some of its sweetness for overseas audiences. Currently rolling out in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, the film will open in territories including UK/Ireland, US, Australia, Japan and France from June 18. Still, it should do solid business in international markets where family-friendly films such as Jia Ling’s Hi, Mom (2021) and Jiaozi’s Ne Zha 2 (2025) found modest success

The story has been inspired by the experiences of overseas Chinese emigrants Lan met while making the food documentary Teochew, and is supplemented by research into qiaopi remittances from the mid-20th century; letters and money sent from overseas Chinese workers to their families, now considered historical documents. Hiou-ui (Lan regular Zheng Runqi), broke and saddled with a massive debt, snoops around his grandmother Sogriu’s (Wu Shaoqing) attic during her 88th birthday party and swipes a letter sent from his deadbeat grandfather, Den Bhagseng (Wang Yantong).

Years before, Den dodged the Chinese civil war draft, landed in Thailand in 1950, started a second family with a mistress, Zia Lamgi (played in flashback by Li Sitong) and made his fortune. He stopped writing to and financially supporting Sogriu and his three children in 1978. Armed with this knowledge, Hiou-ui jets off to Bangkok to find the venerable man and cash in on his success as the true heir. Things take a turn when he finds out Den has been dead since 1960, meets Lamgi’s grown son, Zeghua (Zhao Shuguang), and unearths more letters that fill in the blanks peppering the intervening years. Those blanks provide the foundation for the bulk of the film’s action.

One of Dear You’s most appealing elements is its cultural specificity, giving the story a singular perspective and setting the action in a time and place not often seen on screen. Dialogue is in regional Teochew (or Swatow) and the cast are mostly non-professional, many of whom are local online personalities. Li is particularly engaging as the prickly Lamgi, turning in a debut feature performance that never pushes towards actorly. The same can be said for Wang Xiaohui, who plays Sogriu as a teenage woman. Lan pulls naturalistic work from most of the cast, each of whom gets a moment or two to shine during the generous running time. Cinematographer Hai Tao’s toasty images complement the tactile mid-century production design and art by Wang Zichao and Zhao Junxiang.

But for all its distinctiveness, Dear You also gives into the worst instincts of melodrama. Li Yihan, Wu Zihua and Yang Leng’s score and soundtrack are saccharine when they’re not overwhelming with emotional cues, and the narrative’s Teochew-looking-out-for-Teochew tribalism borders on bigoted; the only conflict faced by the virtuous Teochew comes from the city’s Indian residents and a handful of Thai police.

Den’s adventure is the inciting incident but it’s really Lamgi’s story, and Lan drops the ball in the closing frames when the elderly Sogriu and Lamgi (How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies star Usha Seamkhum) finally meet. There is no emotional payoff, which will feel especially egregious considering Lamgi’s letter-writing plot point may get lost in translation. One man’s sweet and selfless is another man’s psychopathic and self-stagnating.