VOD Review - Dear Ex (Pride Month 2019)

June is Pride Month, the month that was established to promote LGBT rights and celebrate that same community. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in 1969, which most agree was the start of the gay rights movement in the United States. There are various events happening in New York City, the home of Stonewall, to commemorate the anniversary. Some of those events include film screenings. The golden anniversary has made me want to spotlight queer films or television programs that have recently been released within the past year. Prior to Pride Month 2019, there have been several titles for which I've already written reviews that are notable. They include Pose on FX, Alex Strangelove, TransMilitary, Evening Shadows, We Are Thr3e, Sorry Angel, Special, Booksmart and Rocketman.

In preparation for Pride Month though, I recently watched four films that were all about gay Asians. When it comes to films about queer people from the east, Ang Lee's The Wedding Banquet (1993) and Wong Kar-wai's Happy Together (1997) still stand as two of the best in that regard. I've also enjoyed the works of Ray Yeung, including Cut Sleeve Boys (2007) and Front Cover (2016). These four, which were all made available online this year, all represent an interesting range of stories about gay people and their families. Each is about a gay person reckoning his identity to either his parent or his child. It felt like I should connect them and analyze the differences or variations.

To check out the other three gay Asian films that I'm linking together, check out the reviews for All in My Family by Hao Wu from China, Dear Dad by Tanuj Bhramar from India and The Third Party by Jason Paul Laxamana from Phillippines.

This film comes from directing duo, Mag Hsu and Chih-yen Hsu, not sure if there's any relation. This film had echoes of The Cakemaker (2018), the Israeli film about a Jewish man who has an affair with a German pastry chef. The Jewish man then dies suddenly, prompting the German chef to insinuate himself in the life of the Jewish man's widow. The echoes here are that a college professor in Taiwan has an affair with an actor-director of a small theater company. The professor not-so-suddenly dies, prompting the widow and her teenage son to insinuate themselves into the life of the actor-director.

Roy Chiu stars as Yu-Chieh Kao, the aforementioned actor-director. He works at a small theater and he's putting on a play. He's a bit of a tyrant as a director. He yells at his actors. He throws tantrums. He's a tad aggressive. It's  a wonder that anyone puts up with him. He meets a professor who also works at the theater doing music. He begins a sexual relationship with that professor who then becomes sick and in need of a liver transplant. Chieh takes care of the professor until the professor dies. Chieh wasn't expecting anything, but there's now a question of whether he's the beneficiary of the professor's insurance money.

Hsieh Ying-Xuan co-stars as San-Lien Liu, the widow to the professor. She's also the mother to their teenage son. She was devastated to learn that her husband for decades was now living life as a gay man, leaving her alone and questioning if her entire marriage was a lie. She becomes particularly angry that she might not get any of her husband's insurance money because despite being his wife, she's not her husband's beneficiary. Her goal is to get Chieh to give her the insurance money instead.

Joseph Huang also co-stars as Cheng-hsi Sung, the teenage boy who is the son of the professor and of Lien. He's in therapy dealing with anger management issues and violent tendencies. A lot of it stems from the fact that his father left him and his mother. Cheng decides to hang out at Chieh's apartment, despite Lien not wanting him there and despite Chieh not wanting him there. Cheng hangs around anyway much to everyone's chagrin. Cheng wants answers about why he lost his father, not just in death but also in life.

The whole thing is described as a dark comedy, but the humor felt more frustrating than funny. It's supposed to be dealing with grief and loss. Each of the characters handles that grief and loss in different ways. Yet, maybe they don't. All of them seem to lash out at people, probably as a result of their grief and loss. By the end, it tries to land on being a story about parents and children, much in the way that the other gay Asian films mentioned above are. This one doesn't develop that parent-child relationship as well as it could have. Chieh has a moment with his mom that didn't feel all that earned, but the performances were entertaining enough.

Rated TV-MA.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 39 mins.

Available on Netflix.