THE FAREWELL
****
Director: Lulu Wang
Screenwriter: Lulu Wang
Principal cast:
Awkwafina
Zhao Shuzhen
Tzi Ma
Diana Lin
Lu Hong
Chen Han
Aoi Mizuhara
Country: USA
Classification: PG
Runtime: 100mins.
Australian release date: 5 September 2019
Previewed at: Verona Cinema, Sydney, on 5 September 2019.
‘Based on an actual lie’, as the opening credits inform us, The Farewell is an endearing tale written and directed by Lulu Wang. It tells of an event from her own background, when her relatives joined together to hide a terminal illness diagnosis from the family matriarch. We learn that, in Chinese culture, it is considered better to keep the bad news from a sick person so that they can carry on regardless, rather than live with the burden of knowing that their days are numbered. Thus, subterfuge was necessary so that the secret didn’t get out, but there was one member of the family who didn’t quite understand the need for deception and felt that honesty was the better option - Wang herself. She initially revealed this story about her family’s elaborate lie in a popular This American Life episode on National Public Radio and the feedback she received was so positive it convinced her to turn the yarn into a film script. The Farewell is the result of her labours.
Billi (Awkwafina, who had significant roles in Crazy Rich Asians and Ocean’s 8) moved to New York from China with her family when she was a child and, ever since, has maintained a close relationship with her gran, Nai Nai (Mandarin for grandmother), back in Changchun. She is a struggling writer who has just received the disappointing news that she’s failed to win a Guggenheim Fellowship. The rejection lands in her lap at the same time as she hears from her parents, Haiyan (Tzi Ma) and Jian (Chinese-Australian actress Diana Lin), that Nai Nai (Zhao Shuzhen) has been diagnosed with lung cancer and has limited time left. As a result, they are planning to visit her under the guise of attending a (hastily brought forward) wedding, which will bring the extended family together for the first time in 25 years, but they don’t want Billi to attend. They think she will spill the beans due to her affection for Nai Nai and her Western ways; she refuses to be put off, however, and flies to Changchun on her own. Once she’s in China, memories from her childhood come flooding back and she too realises that, growing up in the USA, she now thinks quite differently to her relatives.
The Farewell is an up-lifting, gentle story that, while it has some genuine laugh-out-loud moments, is no raucous comedy. Rather, it’s a thoughtful piece about displacement, expectation, cultural difference and acceptance. All the characters have a definite part in keeping the family together and, over the course of the film, we learn crucial bits of information about most of them. Haiyan’s older brother, Haibin (Jiang Yongbo), re-located to Japan years ago and it is his son’s wedding to a Japanese girl that has brought them all together. It’s another cross-cultural link in the family chain. Wang also raises issues about the importance of connection and dynastic memory; in one particularly poignant scene between Nai Nai and Billi, the older woman imparts the most encouraging wisdom to her granddaughter. All the performances of the ensemble cast are very good but Awkwafina and Zhao Shuzhen are particularly fine. Coupled with a fascinating, and beautiful, score that ranges from Karaoke to classical, there are moments of such joy that you might leave the cinema thinking about your own past. The added bonus is that even though there is much anxiety surrounding this family reunion, there is a surprise ending that is typical of life itself, emphasising the fact that you never know what lies ahead. Be warned, though - don’t go hungry to The Farewell. Most of the family’s gatherings involve preparing, and consuming, vast amounts of the most delicious-looking food!
Screenwriter: Lulu Wang
Principal cast:
Awkwafina
Zhao Shuzhen
Tzi Ma
Diana Lin
Lu Hong
Chen Han
Aoi Mizuhara
Country: USA
Classification: PG
Runtime: 100mins.
Australian release date: 5 September 2019
Previewed at: Verona Cinema, Sydney, on 5 September 2019.
‘Based on an actual lie’, as the opening credits inform us, The Farewell is an endearing tale written and directed by Lulu Wang. It tells of an event from her own background, when her relatives joined together to hide a terminal illness diagnosis from the family matriarch. We learn that, in Chinese culture, it is considered better to keep the bad news from a sick person so that they can carry on regardless, rather than live with the burden of knowing that their days are numbered. Thus, subterfuge was necessary so that the secret didn’t get out, but there was one member of the family who didn’t quite understand the need for deception and felt that honesty was the better option - Wang herself. She initially revealed this story about her family’s elaborate lie in a popular This American Life episode on National Public Radio and the feedback she received was so positive it convinced her to turn the yarn into a film script. The Farewell is the result of her labours.
Billi (Awkwafina, who had significant roles in Crazy Rich Asians and Ocean’s 8) moved to New York from China with her family when she was a child and, ever since, has maintained a close relationship with her gran, Nai Nai (Mandarin for grandmother), back in Changchun. She is a struggling writer who has just received the disappointing news that she’s failed to win a Guggenheim Fellowship. The rejection lands in her lap at the same time as she hears from her parents, Haiyan (Tzi Ma) and Jian (Chinese-Australian actress Diana Lin), that Nai Nai (Zhao Shuzhen) has been diagnosed with lung cancer and has limited time left. As a result, they are planning to visit her under the guise of attending a (hastily brought forward) wedding, which will bring the extended family together for the first time in 25 years, but they don’t want Billi to attend. They think she will spill the beans due to her affection for Nai Nai and her Western ways; she refuses to be put off, however, and flies to Changchun on her own. Once she’s in China, memories from her childhood come flooding back and she too realises that, growing up in the USA, she now thinks quite differently to her relatives.
The Farewell is an up-lifting, gentle story that, while it has some genuine laugh-out-loud moments, is no raucous comedy. Rather, it’s a thoughtful piece about displacement, expectation, cultural difference and acceptance. All the characters have a definite part in keeping the family together and, over the course of the film, we learn crucial bits of information about most of them. Haiyan’s older brother, Haibin (Jiang Yongbo), re-located to Japan years ago and it is his son’s wedding to a Japanese girl that has brought them all together. It’s another cross-cultural link in the family chain. Wang also raises issues about the importance of connection and dynastic memory; in one particularly poignant scene between Nai Nai and Billi, the older woman imparts the most encouraging wisdom to her granddaughter. All the performances of the ensemble cast are very good but Awkwafina and Zhao Shuzhen are particularly fine. Coupled with a fascinating, and beautiful, score that ranges from Karaoke to classical, there are moments of such joy that you might leave the cinema thinking about your own past. The added bonus is that even though there is much anxiety surrounding this family reunion, there is a surprise ending that is typical of life itself, emphasising the fact that you never know what lies ahead. Be warned, though - don’t go hungry to The Farewell. Most of the family’s gatherings involve preparing, and consuming, vast amounts of the most delicious-looking food!