2025·Drama·2h 18m
7.1
★
A Japanese man and his Chinese-American wife struggle with work, parenting, and caregiving in NYC. Their strained life spirals when their son is kidnapped, leading to murder. Unspoken truths and secrets surface, deepening their rift. Can they rebuild their shattered vision of a "happy family"?
Directed by Tetsuya Mariko
married couple
family relationships
disappearance
relationship
missing child
family tragedy
child kidnapping
moral dilemma
immigrant experience
incident
marital crisis
marital relations
parenting stress
Trailer
IMDB
N/A
Cast
Hidetoshi Nishijima
Kenji Saiga
Gwei Lun-Mei
Jane Yang
Christopher Mann
Detective Bixby
Everest Talde
Kai Saiga
Fiona Fu
Shu-An Yao
Mia Reece
Monica Lombera
James Chu
En-Yu Yang
Aitor Martin
Miguel Lombera
Lanett Tachel
Vanessa
Matt Golden
Michael Beaumont
Carrie Keating
Lily
Shelley Thomas-Harts
Preschool Principal
Crew
Tetsuya Mariko
Director
Tetsuya Mariko
Screenplay
Jim O'Rourke
Original Music Composer
Matthieu Laclau
Editor
Shôzô Ichiyama
Executive Producer
Eisei Shu
Producer
Tu Duu-chih
Sound Supervisor
Popular Reviews
6 reviews
pleiades
6.0★ · 08/24/25
❝We constantly suffer, even after death. This is what ruins embody. Their weathered beauty and fragility. It's in the wreckage that we find the truth, isn't it?❞
· · ────── •⊰✧⊱• ────── · ·
Dear Stranger was very different to what I was expecting. It took a while for the plot to really start moving forward, but then the pace became really fast. I'll be honest, after a certain point I didn't quite understand what was going on. The undercurrents of trust and grief and how they're approached in an immigrant family wasn't explored a lot, apart from mourning from Jane and quick looks at her parents. I liked the use of puppets initially to convey Jane's emotions, but while the puppet show was visually nice, I felt that there was a hidden meaning I wasn't able to grasp. The run-time was pretty long, which made the film feel like it was being dragged out, especially during the last 20 minutes or so, and the acting overall was good, though nothing to write home about. All in all, not necessarily a bad watch, but I think I need to revisit the film in the future and digest it properly.
· · ────── •⊰✧⊱• ────── · ·
Dear Stranger was very different to what I was expecting. It took a while for the plot to really start moving forward, but then the pace became really fast. I'll be honest, after a certain point I didn't quite understand what was going on. The undercurrents of trust and grief and how they're approached in an immigrant family wasn't explored a lot, apart from mourning from Jane and quick looks at her parents. I liked the use of puppets initially to convey Jane's emotions, but while the puppet show was visually nice, I felt that there was a hidden meaning I wasn't able to grasp. The run-time was pretty long, which made the film feel like it was being dragged out, especially during the last 20 minutes or so, and the acting overall was good, though nothing to write home about. All in all, not necessarily a bad watch, but I think I need to revisit the film in the future and digest it properly.
❝We constantly suffer, even after death. This is what ruins embody. Their weathered beauty and fragility. It's in the wreckage that we find the truth, isn't it?❞
· · ────── •⊰✧⊱• ────── · ·
Dear Stranger was very different to what I was expecting. It took a while for the plot to really start moving forward, but then the pace became really fast. I'll be honest, after a certain point I didn't quite understand what was going on. The undercurrents of trust and grief and how they're approached in an immigrant family wasn't explored a lot, apart from mourning from Jane and quick looks at her parents. I liked the use of puppets initially to convey Jane's emotions, but while the puppet show was visually nice, I felt that there was a hidden meaning I wasn't able to grasp. The run-time was pretty long, which made the film feel like it was being dragged out, especially during the last 20 minutes or so, and the acting overall was good, though nothing to write home about. All in all, not necessarily a bad watch, but I think I need to revisit the film in the future and digest it properly.
· · ────── •⊰✧⊱• ────── · ·
Dear Stranger was very different to what I was expecting. It took a while for the plot to really start moving forward, but then the pace became really fast. I'll be honest, after a certain point I didn't quite understand what was going on. The undercurrents of trust and grief and how they're approached in an immigrant family wasn't explored a lot, apart from mourning from Jane and quick looks at her parents. I liked the use of puppets initially to convey Jane's emotions, but while the puppet show was visually nice, I felt that there was a hidden meaning I wasn't able to grasp. The run-time was pretty long, which made the film feel like it was being dragged out, especially during the last 20 minutes or so, and the acting overall was good, though nothing to write home about. All in all, not necessarily a bad watch, but I think I need to revisit the film in the future and digest it properly.
klarouxe
5.0★ · 11/29/25
big up au détective cliché des films policiers américain qui pouvait carrément te suivre sous ta douche. Je savais pas ce qu’il faisait là mais ça m’a fait rire.
big up au détective cliché des films policiers américain qui pouvait carrément te suivre sous ta douche. Je savais pas ce qu’il faisait là mais ça m’a fait rire.
Jtcxxe
6.0★ · 01/07/26
StlsswannPRO
7.0★ · 11/25/25
Martin
7.0★ · 11/05/25