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The farewell - Movie

  • Writer: Simona
    Simona
  • May 24, 2023
  • 4 min read

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the farewell

THE MOVIE


In 2019 Lulu Wang wrote and directed this American comedy-drama film, based, in part, on her personal life experiences.


It was first presented at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and at the 77th Golden Globe Awards the film was nominated for two awards including Best Foreign Language Film, with Awkwafina winning for Best Actress – Musical or Comedy.


The movie is bilingual, Chinese and English. The English movie's title Farewell does not translate the Chinese one: 别告诉她 (Bié Gàosù Tā), which means 'Don't Tell Her').






THE PLOT


awkwafina
2016 Casi M. All rights reserved

Nai Nai (paternal grandmother) has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, and is predicted to have only a few months left to live, however the the diagnosis is kept a secret from her.


The whole family, that lives outside China, plan to visit Nai Nai, with the excuse of the wedding of the cousin from Japan, Hao Hao, to spend with her what is supposed to be her last period of life.


Billi, who lives in the USA with her parents, struggles with the family's decision of not revealing Nai Nai the real diagnosis. Her uncle, Haibin, explains that the lie allows the family to bear the emotional burden of the diagnosis, rather than Nai Nai herself. He tries to make the point that this is a cultural Asian collectivism that surely clashes with the individualistic values common in Western culture.


After the wedding, Billi decides to stay longer in China, to spend more time with Nai Nai, but grandma pushes her to leave and go ahead with her life.


Six years later, Nai Nai is still alive, energetic, happy and still unaware of her sickness.






THE CAST


Everything rotates around 2 main figures:

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Evan Mulling

Awkwafina = Billi Wang (Chinese: 王比莉)

Zhao Shu-zhen = Nai Nai (奶奶), Billi's paternal grandmother


Both brilliant and perfect in their roles.


Tzi Ma = Haiyan Wang (王海燕), Billi's father

Diana Lin = Lu Jian (陆建), Billi's mother


Jiang Yongbo = Haibin (海滨), Haiyan's older brother

Li Xiang = Aunty Ling, Haibin's wife

Chen Han = Hao Hao (浩浩), Haibin's son

Aoi Mizuhara = Aiko (Japanese: 愛子), Hao Hao's Japanese fiancée


Lu Hong = Lu Hong, Little Nai Nai, Billi's grandmother's younger sister

Zhang Jing = Yuping, Haiyan's cousin


Yang Xuejian = Mr. Li

Jim Liu = Dr. Song




CRITICAL REVIEWS


PROS


"Wang movingly tells not just a story about the negotiations of familial love, but also of the immigrant experience, of revisiting one's homeland to, in some senses, say goodbye to it."

Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair


CONS


N/A



I watched the movie while coming back from a trip. It was, unbelievably, a trip that was bringing me back to the USA, after the funeral of my cousin Ivan. I flu with the thought to my uncle Angiolino, who had a cancer, was facing the last days of his life, and didn't know it, as also my family took the decision of collective burden, to release his mental pain. So, the movie spoke to me a lot.


Like Awkwafina, I debated, with my husband, about the decision of not telling my uncle the truth. Like her I thought that it would have been better for him to know, so that he could have been able to decide doing special or needed things before going. But, like uncle Haibin, my family probably thought that it would have been a too heavy load for my uncle to carry.

Like her I went along the family's decision, with all the doubts she showed also in my mind. And like her I extended my stay in my country for the longer I could, until I decided that it was a lot more sad idea to remain at home just waiting for his death. So I took the phone and told him: "Uncle, I am going back to New York. I'll see you next time, ok?", keeping all the tears in my throat.

Unlike Nai Nai, he passed away few weeks later my departure.


So, obviously, I can't not relate myself to the movie. It made me think, made me resonate, made me cry... but also made me think of the importance of good memories and somehow also made me laugh.


Awkwafina made a great job, here. She's been intense, but also light. And Zhao Shu Zhen surely brought fine experience to the set: an elegant manner of filling her role. I loved them both and also well appreciated all the rest of the cast.


It's one of those few movies that I would watch again (I generally watch once and do not like repeating).


I'd like to bring one astonishing new point of view to Billi's family: also Italians, who are surely westerners in their aspect, are, although, "collective". When you're part of a family, you're part of a whole. Your Italian family carries the burden and... creates in your mind the anxious burden of "Aren't you married yet?!"... Like Chinese mothers, the Italians ones first ask you "Did you eat?", before asking "How are you?". Like the south China, also in the Italian countryside we might "eat everything with 4 legs, but table, everything that flies but airplanes!"... and my mum still wonders why I love Asia so much: because!



Ok, for tears, see Awkwafina receiving the Golden Globe:








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