Dear Ex

A man dies and it emerges that his life insurance was left in full not to his wife but to the male partner he had been with for years. She sets out to get the money back, and her son walks out of her house and moves in with that same man. Mag Hsu and Hsu Chih-yen build it as a comedy of reckoning: all three have lost the same person and none of them can show their grief to the others. The narration runs from the boy's viewpoint and slips into drawn animation at intervals. It was a considerable success in Taiwan and took awards at the Golden Horse, including best actress. Its finest observation is that anger and mourning use the same tone of voice. Who it is for: viewers who like Asian cinema that handles family reckonings through humour. Who it is not for: anyone who wants to pick a side, since the film vindicates nobody.