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| Dear Stranger, Gwei Lun Mei and Nishijima Hidetoshi (Photo: Toei JP) |
What happens when your perfect little family cracks wide open in the middle of New York? That’s the chilling premise behind the upcoming Japanese–Taiwanese–American co-production Dear Stranger, landing in Japanese cinemas September 2025.
Directed and written by the ever-uncompromising Tetsuya Mariko (of Destruction Babies and Miyamoto fame), the film stars Japan’s internationally acclaimed Hidetoshi Nishijima (Drive My Car, Sunny) and Taiwanese powerhouse Gwei Lun-Mei (The Wild Goose Lake, Black Coal, Thin Ice) as a seemingly ordinary Asian couple living in New York—until their young son is kidnapped.
What follows is a tense, emotionally raw human suspense story as their marriage begins to unravel and hidden truths claw their way to the surface.
It’s not just a kidnapping thriller—it’s a meditation on alienation, cultural silence, and what it really means to connect (or not) in a city that never stops moving.
The story was shot entirely on location across New York from November to December 2024, with scenes in Brooklyn, Harlem, and Chinatown grounding the emotional chaos in gritty urban realism.
A fully multilingual production (expect English, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish, and even some sign language), Dear Stranger brings together a multi-national team both in front of and behind the camera.
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| Dear Stranger 2025 (Toei JP) |
Nishijima, playing the husband Kenji, called the film “a new kind of challenge,” noting that 90% of his lines were in English.
“Everyday life can collapse in an instant. How do you get it back?” he asks, promising viewers a haunting, richly textured world only Mariko could build.
Gwei, who plays Jane, his wife, described the script as “quietly philosophical” and filled with symbolism. “What is not said is often closer to the truth than what is,” she said.
Her past performances as enigmatic, complex women make her a perfect fit for a character holding layers of pain and mystery.
Director Mariko himself reflected on the long road to bringing the film to life, which began during a stay at Harvard’s Reischauer Institute and took years of uncertain development.
“This is a story about family, distance, and survival in a city where languages blur and emotions can be deafeningly silent. Nishijima and Gwei gave performances that will linger.”
Dear Stranger is being distributed in Japan by Toei, with international details to follow.
With a potent mix of suspense, drama, and cultural insight, it’s shaping up to be one of autumn 2025’s must-watch releases—especially for fans of cross-cultural cinema that digs deep beneath the surface.
Save the date: Dear Stranger hits Japanese cinemas September 2025.
Official site: https://d-stranger.jp
Official X: @d_stranger_mv
Official Instagram: @d_stranger_mv