As it turned out, I needn\u2019t have worried: <\/span>The Farewell<\/span><\/i> is in extremely capable hands. Wang \u2014 coming off her debut feature, 2014\u2019s <\/span>Posthumous<\/span><\/i> \u2014\u00a0has penned a deeply personal story that flips the script, and feels as vital and honest rather than contrived or emotionally manipulative. Based on a true story Wang told in 2016 on NPR\u2019s <\/span>This American Life<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>The Farewell<\/span><\/i> centers around an early 30-something writer named Billi (Nora Lum, aka rapper\/actress Awkwafina, in one of her first serious roles), who was born in China but raised primarily in New York. Despite her physical distance from much of her extended family, Billi maintains a close relationship with her paternal grandmother, Nai Nai (Zhao Shuzhen), who she regularly talks with on the phone, and when she finds out Nai Nai is dying of lung cancer, she can\u2019t fathom not traveling to Changchung (where Wang\u2019s family is also from) for one last visit.<\/span><\/p>\n Billi <\/span>also<\/span><\/i> can\u2019t fathom that her family has chosen to lie to Nai Nai: She has no idea her cancer is terminal, and they cook up an elaborate fake wedding to explain their arrival. Navigating the world when you\u2019re being pushed and pulled between two different cultures is a unique experience that\u2019s not often depicted in mainstream cinema, and Wang and her excellent cast do a fantastic job highlighting the internal and external struggles that can result from this tension. Watching the entire extended family sit at the dinner table together for the first time in 25 years would be deeply moving even if Nai Nai wasn\u2019t dying, so it\u2019s not surprising that this gathering invokes mixed emotions (joy over being together, sorrow over all the years they\u2019ve spent apart and all the moments they\u2019ve missed from each others\u2019 lives). Certainly, keeping up the charade \u2014 or \u201cgood lie,\u201d as the doctor calls it \u2014 for Nai Nai\u2019s benefit is going to be difficult for all parties involved.<\/span><\/p>\n Wang has assembled a truly top-notch cast to stand in for her family: In fact, Zhao Shuzhen, Lu Hong (Wang\u2019s actual great aunt, playing herself), Diana Lin (Billi\u2019s mother) and Tzi Mai (Billi\u2019s father) are so strong that they threaten to outshine Awkwafina, who is generally good here \u2014 especially in scenes with Nai Nai \u2014 but not <\/span>entirely<\/span><\/i> convincing, especially when she\u2019s called upon to deliver a more emotional monologue near the end of the film. Still, <\/span>The Farewell<\/span><\/i> is propelled by the sharp (and often slyly funny) writing, highly fleshed-out characters, mournful score, and crisp cinematography by Anna Franquesa Solano. And in a summer movie landscape filled with big-budget sequels and prequels that are written by a team of writers and then rewritten many times over to satisfy studio notes, it\u2019s impressive to see a vision so personal \u2014 and a narrative without a love interest or a big dramatic ending \u2014 make so much space for itself without a love interest, a big twist, or too much heavy-handed symbolism. After suffering through last year\u2019s wildly self-indulgent, overly serious Disobedience, I was ready to write off any and all \u201cartistic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":568,"featured_media":12136,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1381,340],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movies","category-movie-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/568"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/crookedc-01.svg\")
<\/span><\/p>\nGrade: B+<\/span><\/h3>\n
1 hr., 40 min.; rated PG for thematic material, brief language and some smoking<\/em><\/h5>\n
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