The Farewell
Family is at the center of The Farewell (2019), the newest film by Chinese born filmmaker Lulu Wang, and even without a working knowledge of Chinese traditions or family values, I believe the story speaks to anyone that comes from an ethnically varied background. The values and cultures from any grandparents are often different enough on their own, but throw in the clashing cultures of two generations from completely different worlds, and you get what The Farewell spends so much time exploring in some of the most authentic ways I've seen in a movie.
What grabbed me most in this film, was just how realistically portrayed a lot of the finer details of this kind of visit were handled. The exhaustive arrival, and the ensuing family dinner you have to leave because you're too tired, the touching little moments where you just observe and see how your relatives live their lives, and the heartbreaking goodbyes, uncertainty at the future and how long it'll be before you see them again. These moments are all captured so beautifully not only through some interesting camerawork utilizing headspace and backgrounds, but through Awkwafina's performance. She toes the line between "fish out of water" and "child returning home" so well that she manages to vicariously explore our curiosities, while still remaining a functioning and independent member of this world.
This little homecoming movie would work fine on its own, but its premise (an Americanized Chinese family returning home to visit their dying grandmother who hasn't been told they are dying) elevates it, and ultimately acts as its downfall as well. This premise adds a nice little layer of cruel irony to everything their grandma says and allows everyone's true feelings for this woman to come out, for better or worse. This bringing together of a family also serves to bring up societal differences that are more pondered than explored but are still interesting based on how defined each character's views are. At times I feel as if the film is grasping at too many straws, but it never lingers on any one issue long enough for it to be a major problem.
Where the film falls apart for me, however, is the ending. I felt as though the first 80 or so minutes of the movie awkwardly fumble around a big question that they never really answer, and then just outright throw away in the closing shot. By the time the closing scene comes around, I'm left to wonder what the purpose of what I even saw was, and not in a way that makes me more introspective. It seems like the movie ran out of steam somewhere around the 60-minute mark, but was so fascinated with its world that it didn't want to leave. The abruptness of the ending took a lot of the emotion out of the titular farewell for me, and not in a way that I felt added anything to the film.
The Farewell is undoubtedly worth your time and money, and despite its shortcomings, I found the film to be very personal and very real, in a way that most family dramas aren't. And Awkwafina. Man Awkwafina is great.