The Farewell

Tinsel & Tine #MiniMovieReview THE FAREWELL, this summer’s indie hit which reached the top ten in its 2nd weekend with the fewest theaters of any movie all year!

This is the one you’ve probably heard is “based on an actual lie,” which happened in writer/director Lulu Wang’s life – The handling of her grandmother’s end-of-life care. “The Farewell” stars Awkwafina (aka Nora Lum) best known for playing the outrageous, over the top friend from college in “Crazy Rich Asians”. Here she’s given the opportunity to tone it down as Billi, an unassuming, pensive, millennial Chinese American young woman who’s already having a hard time trying to make ends meet, pursue her music aspirations, and meet her parents, Haiyan (Tzi Ma) and Jian (Diana Lin) expectations; when she gets the news that her beloved grandmother – Nai Nai (Shuzhen Zhou) is dying of stage four lung cancer and the family has decided to keep the test results a secret. Because, as Billi’s mother says, “Chinese people have a saying: When people get cancer, they die”…. beat, beat “from the fear.” And this is the kind of touching, nearly black humor that permeates what otherwise would be a morose story of letting go of a loved one.

Awkwafina: “It really all comes from my relationship with my grandma. I was raised by her from the time my mom passed away. When I saw the script, I cried. I never thought I’d see a movie like it, one that was very personal to me. I didn’t know how many people would even see it. It got to another level in China. Then there’s a whole other personal journey that’s like, Am I Asian enough? Am I American enough?”… – refinery29.com

The trick of not telling someone they’re dying is then you are unable to say goodbye – so the family hatches an elaborate scheme to have Nai Nai’s grandson (Billi’s cousin) marry. Allowing a reason for all the family to come together in China. The problem with this is two fold: 1) They feel Billi should not attend for fear she won’t keep her composure and expose the truth. 2) Billi’s cousin isn’t really ready to marry his girlfriend of only 3 or 4 months.

Never-the-less, this is the plan of action, which Billi foils somewhat as she defies her parents and flies to China on her own. The film charmingly takes us into this family not unlike many families of any nationality – navigating strong bonds and past hurts that run deep, but can be put aside over a good meal; as culture and affection is often expressed through food. And everything looked so good, this one can fall under Tinsel & Tine’s “foodie film” category.

Lulu Wang finds balance between comedy and drama in almost every scene.  Particularly liked the kooky, somber humor found during the montage of the family visiting the great grandfather’s grave. That same balance is shown throughout Billi’s dilemma of not only being torn about the handling of her grandmother’s impending death, but also  between being Western in most ways, yet still tied to her Chinese heritage and sense of belonging through her grandmother; speaking Chinese but not very well; both grateful and resentful of her parents having moved them to America when she was 6 years-old.

Personally, I think #TheFarewell has the right idea. It’s why I don’t like to take too many medical tests. If I’m dying let me just keep going till I drop. I don’t want to know. Every other day I’ve got some kind of ailment that you think, what’s that about? Then I take an Aleve® or Turmeric or a probiotic and keep it moving, if any of it is or becomes serious, I plan never to know until the final moment.

Anyway, bottom line: it’s wonderful to see a film with subtitles getting such positive buzz. Crazy Rich Asians might’ve opened a door for such storytelling, But with other films like “Yesterday” “Always Be My Maybe” “The Last Blackman in San Francisco” and the upcoming “Blinded by the Light” we are definitely seeing a mix of story types being told through diverse voices. Let’s just keep it going till you don’t even notice anymore.

T&T the Large Association of Movie Blogs (aka the LAMb) rating 4 outta 5