Dear You

Mom was busy going out with her sisters. I was glad that she got to enjoy some time out. They went to the movies and then for dinner. That left me alone to handle my own dinner. Sometimes, I would raid the fridge to see what I can concoct, but at times, I just feel so incredibly lazy. That was when I would turn to Grab. Honestly, I was sick of Ayam Penyet and Ayam Geprek and Nasi Lemak and Chicken Rice for there seemed to be so many vendors selling the same thing. So I ended up ordering from a 煮炒 shop nor far from my house. Thanks to a few discounts, I paid about RM26. 

I ordered a Yangzhou fried rice and a Nanru pork. The portions were rather generous, and I divided them into 2. I ate half for dinner and refrigerated the rest for the next meal. 

Well, Mom and her sisters went to watch Dear You 给阿嬷的情书 at  the cinema, at TGV Vivacity Megamall. I had actually wanted to bring my mom to watch it,  but my cousin beat me to it. He bought the tickets and sponsored all the aunts for a movie treat. I, on the other hand, brought my Fourth Aunt - my dad's sister - to watch it. We watched the movie at GSC The Spring instead. 

Why had I wanted to watch it? Well, my curiosity was piqued when I noticed that it when it was trending on Rednote - that a low-budget movie was making waves in the cinema. I figured that if it was trending, there had to be special. And I wanted to find out what was so special about it. Next, I noticed that it was Teochew. Well, that interested me even more since I'm Teochew. 

That aside, I did not really bother to find out what it was about. I did not want to read spoilers since I wanted to watch the movie to find out for myself. But Fourth Aunt, after I invited her for the movie, did her research and read the synopsis and some trivia about the film. Lol. So she was worried that she would not understand the story and thus, would not enjoy the show. Heh. 

Dear Year is essentially about a Teochew man named Ten Bak-seng who migrated to Southeast Asia in the early 20th century. He left his wife in China, Hioh Sok-jiu and maintained communication with her via remittence letters. Later on after he died, his friend Xia Nam-gi wrote those letters on his behalf. The two women had never met, but became each other's sources of hope and inspiration. 

Personally, I found the story was straightforward and easy to follow and also deeply poignant. Bak-seng seemed to be a carefree and happy person. How brutal life must have been for him as he left China to work in a foreign land for survival. How must he have pined for his wife and children whom he left behind in China. In the end, he never got to return to them in his lifetime. He left home and never got to go back. How heartbreaking. 

I marvelled at the profound connection the two women shared via the letters they wrote to each other. I deeply empathised with their hardships and admired their strength and resilience in bringing up their child / children by themselves. It was bittersweet when they finally met later in life, and Nam-gi did not remember who Sok-jiu. But it's comforting that Sok-jiu's misunderstanding about her husband cleared up. 

The use of Teochew dialect felt incredibly authentic. I could not understand their version of Teochew ... since I only know our localised version of Teochew. So I relied on the subtitles. Yet, hearing it felt so familiar - at time I felt like I was listening to my late grandmother talking to me ... due to the more traditional choice of words used. Oh and I learned that 走囝 zhaogia refers to a daughter - it means a child that will go away, since daughters customarily leave the family when she marries off. I always thought 走囝 and 查某囝 chaboukia were the same. Heh. 

Since there were no big-name actors and actresses, I felt that the story-telling was very raw and real. It was depicting the lives of ordinary people. It could even be the story of my family. Ten Bak-seng could very well be my late grandpa. My grandpa migrated from Anpu village near Shantou. When my parents visited the village years ago, they were purportedly shown a handwritten letter by my grandpa. They said that my grandpa wrote it himself. Later on, they brought the letter back to show it to my grandpa. I haven't seen the letter myself though.

The film is reminiscent of films made in the past - there was absolutly no CGI - just story-telling in its purest form. In an era dominated by blockbusters with massive budgets, heavy CGI, and star-studded casts, we often forget that the core purpose of cinema is simply to tell a good story. In that sense, Dear You was incredibly refreshing. 

The local Teochew Association was great to encourage the public to watch the show so they were ever so generous to sponsor free tickets. When I exited the cinema after my show, there was a long queue for those free tickets. I even saw my colleague there waiting in the line. The only reason I was not getting those free tickets was because I had already bought my tickets very early on - before news of this freebie was published. Lol. Otherwise, I would also be queuing. Heh. 

After the movie, it was only natural for Fourth Aunt and I to look for food. I wanted to eat at Sushi Tie but there was a long queue ... sigh .... so Fourth Aunt insisted on eating at The Grass ... 

Fourth Aunt's Favourite Black and White Dessert, RM16.90

It was yummy - soy-based shaved ice, soy curd and grass jelly, matcha jelly, yoghurt boba and fruit

We decided just to have a simple dinner afterwards. So we went to Zok Noodle House ... I had the BBQ Pork and Fresh Prawns Wonton Dry Noodles whilst Fourth Aunt had the Fresh Prawn Wonton Noodles in Soup. 

I did find the food palatable, only expensive. First Aunt's noodle cost RM19.50 while mine was RM20.50. On top of that, there was RM4.00 service charge and RM2.40 service tax. Worth a try but not cost effective to eat too often. Afterwards, we went grocery shopping at Ta Kiong gand went home.