After watching too many Hollywood sci-fi blockbusters and animated films this year, Dearest, by Hong Kong director Peter Chan, is just what I needed: a warm, touching movie that’s free of any fuss.

今年，看过了太多好莱坞科幻大片和动画电影，香港导演陈可辛指导的电影《亲爱的》才正是我想看的：温暖、感人，没有丝毫矫揉造作。

In Dearest, Tian Wenjun (Huang Bo) and Lu Xiaojuan (Hao Lei) is a divorced couple who pretty much have moved on with their lives. That is until the day their 3-year-old son goes missing. You can guess most of what happens for the next hour: There’s panic and tears, visits to the police station and the divorcees turning to each other again to find their son.

《亲爱的》讲述了一对离异的夫妻——田文军(黄渤 饰)和鲁晓娟(郝蕾 饰)，就在他们在分道扬镳的路上越走越远时，他们3岁的儿子失踪了。接下来的故事你也许已经猜到：恐惧和泪水接踵而至，一次次的来到公安局，而这对离婚的夫妇为了寻子再次走到了一起。

Chan breaks away from convention by dividing the film into two parts. In the second half, audiences are taken directly to two years later, when Tian receives a tip suggesting his son has been spotted in Anhui (13 hours away by train). The film then follows how Tian and his ex-wife rationalize the decision to steal a child they believe to be theirs back from its new mother, Li Hongqin (Zhao Wei).

但是，陈可辛并没有落入俗套，而是将影片一分为二，后半程的故事直接从两年后开始讲起。田文军得到一条线索，说有人在距离他们家13小时车程的安徽县城看见了他的儿子。影片接下来则围绕田文军和前妻如何相互劝服彼此，将自己的儿子从她的新母亲李红琴(赵薇 饰)手中“偷”走而展开。

That’s where the movie really start to get interesting, and to tug at your heartstrings with its based-on-a-true-story premise. It’s quite a daring move for Chan to withhold the film’s strongest performer, Zhao, until the midway point.

此时，电影才开始变得真正有趣起来，而根据真实故事改编的动人之处也逐渐显现。将电影中实力最强的演员赵薇安排在影片一半处才出现，可谓陈可辛颇为大胆之举。

Whereas the other cast members deliver great but predictable performances, Zhao brings contradictions and intrigue to her character. It’s more than impressive to see how she’s able to feed each new crying scene with slightly different emotion. Nothing is too weepy or melodramatic in her performance here.

虽然其他演员都发挥不错，但表演都在预料之中，而赵薇却将其人物的矛盾与纠结表现的淋漓尽致。每一场哭戏中她都演出了情绪的微妙不同，让人印象颇深。而她的表演中却丝毫没有矫揉造作或是过于浮夸之感。

Zhao’s performance even makes up for the fact that the screenplay by Zhang Ji, who also wrote Chan’s American Dreams in China, is a little unfocused. Maybe too eager to stick to the real-life story, Zhang introduces so many characters that each ends up not being emotionally complex enough.

赵薇的演技甚至弥补了编剧张冀(也曾担任《中国合伙人》的编剧)在剧本方面的重点不够突出的缺陷。也许是太过于贴近现实，张冀在影片中安排了太多人物，却最终使得每一个在情感复杂性上都略显不足。

Dearest may not be a sophisticated film, but it manages to hit audiences twice — first in the heart and later in the head. It shines a light on the ugly problem of child abduction in society, and raises intriguing questions about what authorities should do to handle this unusual situation.

《亲爱的》也许并不是一部复杂的影片，但是它却两次打动了观众，先是打动了观众的心，接着又引起了观众的思考。影片不仅折射出拐卖儿童的社会问题，也同时引发了在这种特殊情形下政府应该何为这样发人深省的问题。