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Billi (Awkwafina) is a 30 year old pianist in New York City. She's struggling after being rejected for a scholarship. She and her parents moved to America when she was young. She is mostly Americanized. News come that her grandmother is dying of cancer. Her family agrees to go the traditional route of hiding the diagnosis from the dying grandma. They are going home to China to fake a wedding celebration. Billi is reluctant to go with the lie.

This is a great cultural story. It's the Chinese culture but also the influence of Western culture. It's a family story. It's also Awkwafina's best acting performance yet. Her inner conflict and her family conflict are both very compelling. There are funny little insights. It's a very touching film. I would modify the ending a little. Looking back at Nai Nai as they drive away is such a powerful scene. The movie should probably end there. The scream is not a good way to end especially with the text reveal in the closing credits. If they want to go back to Billi for the ending, it should be something more positive considering what Nai Nai tells her during the banquet.

The Farewell is such a great film. It opened my eyes to a very thought provoking element of Chinese culture and was full of poignancy, humour, and heart.

We follow a family grappling with grief and the way that the film deals with this is so unique and engaging. All of the characters had a part to play in contributing to the story and adding to the film, but the central relationship is between Awkwafina's Billi and her grandmother. It's a very human, believable, and relatable relationship which drives the film and injects so much heart and emotion. It was beautiful to watch.

The screenplay is quite minimal, with not a huge amount of dialogue, but it doesn't need it. It manages to convey its meaning and purpose through other mediums, and is highly accomplished in this way.

I also loved the direction and cinematography of The Farewell. It felt very clean, very arty, and was just great to look at.

A very powerful film exploring familial love and grief in a sensitive, unique, and tender way.

The Farewell is a bittersweet Chinese tragicomedy that has the potential to become an Academy Award winner for Best International Feature Film. The movie revolves around an elderly Chinese lady who suffers from an incurable cancer. Her sister however hides this information from her and instead tries to bring all the family together for one last time. A hastily arranged wedding between a grandson and his Japanese girlfriend serves as purpose for the family members abroad to come back to Changchun. However, the burden of this lie is heavy and conflicts, confusion and misunderstandings soon occur.

The most interesting question about this movie is how you would deal with a situation such as the one portrayed in this film if someone close to you were concerned and how you would like to be treated if you were in a similar situation yourself. The family members in this film try to carry the burden together and decide to not tell the aged grandmother that she is dying. There is no right way to deal with such a difficult decision. If you hide the truth, you might prevent the other person to live every day as if it were the last day and to say farewell. If you tell the truth, you will cause an immense emotional burden to the concerned person who will live in fear of dying every single day. The Farewell offers much food for thought and also shows how differently Western and Eastern cultures approach such a scenario.

The acting performances in this film are outstanding. Every character has its own identity from the drunk war veteran who was in love with the elderly lady over the chubby grandchild who is addicted to technology to the deaf housemate who is the only one to mind his own business. Lead actress Nora Lum convinces as concerned granddaughter who disagrees with her family's strategy of hiding the truth from her grandmother and who also has some financial and social problems of her own. Shuzhen Zhao steals the show in her very first movie as headstrong elderly lady with a heart of gold.

The movie portrays the differences between Western and Eastern cultures cleverly and also portrays how the Chinese society is changing. People have become greedy capitalists looking for financial opportunities abroad but also try to embrace their ethnic heritage at the same time. Changchun has developed from a rather small city with less than a million citizens to a gigantic city with close to eight million citizens in only fifty years. The movie shows how gigantic buildings and monuments have replaced small houses and gardens.

The Farewell also has alight-hearted side and manages to cheer its audience up despite numerous heartbreaking moments. The subtle humour works very well and includes drunk war veterans declaring their romantic feelings, hilarious karaoke performances during the wedding and several running jokes in form of the careless deaf housemate and the disconnected overweight grandson.

In the end, The Farewell is an emotional tragicomedy with a profound message: to spend as much time with your loved ones as you can while you can. As someone who is living abroad and far away from his family, I can truly empathize with the movie's meaningful message. Give this movie the chance to inspire your brain and warm your heart.

The Farewell is a tribute to family and an exploration of what sets Chinese culture apart from our own. Writer/Director Lulu Wang drew upon the true story of her own grandmother to inspire this film, and the authenticity of the story shined through. There's something special going on in The Farewell, because I went through an emotional journey with the main character. It's strange how you can start the film feeling that this entire idea and the pretense of their trip to China is so wrong, and then end up seeing the value of it to the point that you don't want the charade ruined. I can't even point to a particular moment or event that was the tipping point which changed my mind, and I don't know if our main character could either. She is clearly transformed by this time with her family, and begins to see that the way of life in China is different, but that doesn't mean it's wrong. The other thing that was magical about The Farewell is that it managed to find humor in the darkness. It's not a big goofy and hilarious comedy, in fact I probably shed more tears than I laughed, but considering how this whole film could feel because of the subject matter, the fact that I was able to find joy in some moments was great.

There were a number of great performances in The Farewell. I absolutely adored Shuzhen Zhao as the grandmother Nai Nai. She has such a delightful joy in her performance that you instantly fall in love with her. I think Awkwafina did a fine job as Billi, the protagonist. I did question some times if she was capable of portraying the layers of emotions that would be going through her character's mind, but she was good enough that she didn't take me out of the film. I also thought that Tzi Ma and Yongbo Jiang were marvelous as the two brothers who are trying to be the emotionless rocks for their family, and sometimes find that they too can't hide their feelings indefinitely. The Farewell also has a beautiful visual aesthetic, and I loved the way some of the shots were framed. There are a few scenes where just the staging and the way they cut to a shot made me laugh out loud. It's one of those movies where I felt there was a lot of thought and intention in the way things looked. Perhaps that comes from Lulu Wang visualizing these events so vividly from her past, and knowing how they needed to look and feel on the big screen. The Farewell is a heart-warming film that made me think about what I would do in the same situation, and made me cry a lot too. Getting me both emotionally and logically invested in the plot is an impressive feat.

I don't really know how I can describe the feeling I felt at the end of the movie. It is heartbreaking especially one of the later shots but you kind of feel like you need more resolution or more of an end.

And I know films don't always need a clear cut beginning and end but I just felt like the characters didn't really grow or change. Like I felt we ended exactly where we started the film. Like nothing changed.

One more negative thing was the tone seemed a bit all over the shop. Very sad scenes would play out and then it would drop the dramatic effect for comedy and it just didn't seem to flow very well into each other. And some sequences just seemed like they belonged in entirely different movies like The Hangover or something. It was kind of strange.

I actually enjoyed this movie believe it or not. You could tell it was lovingly made and was so personal. Awkwafina was great and so was Shuzhen Zhao. The films was best when them two were sharing scenes together. They made you feel how much the characters cared for each other.

The score was also quite haunting. It fit the sombreness of the movie.

So I would say you could watch it but you need to be in the right mood as it can get pretty sad.

Billi Wang (Akwafina) is a young aspiring writer in New York whose family had immigrated from China when she was six years old. She maintains a happy telephone relationship with her paternal grandmother, Nai Nai (Zhao Shuzhen) who still lives in China in the city of Changchun. Billi's family has received news from another relative that Nai Nai is dying of lung cancer. The extended families travel to Changchun to celebrate the wedding of Billi's cousin although the collective intention is really to say goodbye to Nai Nai - while withholding the news from her that she is dying.

Throughout the film - and especially by the end, it is very clear that is biographical and based on the experiences of the film's talented writer/director Lulu Wang. The story is rich for various reasons including its unique take on the universal theme of dealing with the impending death of a beloved elderly relative.

Billi is also a stand-in for many "new world" North Americans who would find it terribly wrong to withhold from anyone the fact that they are dying. Her points are well expressed but so are the contradictory replies from her elders and those more in line with a Chinese cultural tradition of such secrecy. The reply to the question "who's right" is answered in Nai Nai's laid-back, content demeanour (when not coughing), totally oblivious to her diagnosis. This is one of the fascinating surprises of "The Farewell" in its acquiescence to old-world values in subtle ways. Here, Wang must be given credit for her humility. She seems to have nodded to a sarcastic quote attributed to Oscar Wilde: "I am not young enough to know everything".

The main story is powerful enough; yet Wang adds to the wealth by delving into the immigration experience - for those who left their homeland as well as those left behind. Here again, she takes on a universal theme. In conversations and monologues, the viewer hears what it is like to lose all of one's children (two sons in this case) as they leave the homeland (Nai Nai's other son emigrated to Japan). Billi also has a powerful monologue of what it was like to leave behind an extended family and community when she was six. While intelligently avoiding platitudes, the film asks: is there really a 'better life' somewhere else?

The fine cast does justice to Wang's eloquent story. Awkwafina fits well in the lead role and Zhao's Nai Nai is so loveable that she makes it very easy to see why so many would grieve her impending death. One particular scene stands out even though it is brief: Billi's mother (Diana Lin) quietly avoiding eye contact in a taxi while fighting back tears. In less than a minute, Lin conveys an experience of every adult at least once in our lives. - dbamateurcritic

RATING: 9 out of 10

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT: Screenplay by Lulu Wang

'The Farewell (2019)' is proudly based on an actual lie, one told (and apparently maintained to this day) by director Wang's own family. It's perhaps no wonder, then, that the film feels so thoroughly realistic, despite its somewhat outlandish central conceit. It's, essentially, a slice-of-life drama concerning a worldly Chinese family's attempts to grieve in secret, focusing specifically on Chinese-American Billi as she tries her best to conflate her 'westernised' ideas with her family's 'eastern' wishes. This theme is delicately explored and its conclusions are wonderfully accepting, but it sits firmly as the backdrop for the sometimes strained, yet always loving, family dynamics on display. Everything just seems so grounded, with relationships that feel so lifelike you could almost swear they were real. This makes the experience subtle yet stirring. Often, it mirrors everyday life all too closely. The piece isn't always riveting, or ever conventionally exciting, but it's always enjoyable and often emotionally resonant. By its end, it's hard not to have been moved. In fact, you may not realise just how much it has touched you until just before its credits roll. 7/10

Billi (Awkwafina) is a young Chinese New Yorker struggling to make her way in the world. She has a place of her own to distance herself from her parents - Haiyan ("Arrival"'s Tzi Ma) and Lu Jian (Diana Lin) - but is struggling to fund it. But despite a typically spiky teenage relationship with her parents, family is important to her.

There's a big shock then when her beloved "Nai Nai" (Shuzhen Zhao) is diagnosed back in China with terminal cancer. The slight complication is that no-one has told her. Her younger sister (Hong Lu) has taken the decision to keep the news from her. This is in line with the Chinese saying "When people get Cancer they die". (Based on the rationale that it is not necessarily the disease that kills you, but the fear that destroys your useful life).

The whole extended family sign up - reluctantly - to the decision. They stage a final get together back in China around the pretence of a trumped-up wedding. This is between the comically reluctant grandson Hao Hao (Han Chen) and his new Japanese girlfriend Aiko (Aoi Mizuhara).

Faced with seeing Nai Nai face-to-face, and being forced to "celebrate" together, can the family - and the emotionally attached Billi in particular - hold it together and keep the secret?

You might naturally assume that given the subject matter that this was going to be SERIOUSLY heavy going. And in many ways you would be right. Most of us over 50 will have lost an elderly relative. And, unless it was a sudden event, you have probably been through the mental pain of having to drive away from a nursing home certain that that will be the final time you will see your loved one alive. If you are therefore not affected by this film, you are not human.

However, the film is so beautifully put together, and the comedy - albeit some of it very dark - so brilliantly inserted that the film is an UTTER DELIGHT from start to end. There are truly insightful scenes that get under the skin of the well-developed social approach in China to family. (Like my wife they love big family dinners around a round-table!) Although there is always the teen - Bau (Jinhang Liu) in this case - with his face permanently in his phone!

There are also scenes familiar to anyone who's visited China. The gaggle of "helpful" taxi drivers outside the airport made me laugh out loud.

Also (unintentionally) funny are the multiple company logos at the start of the film. (This is reminiscent of a classic "Family Guy" scene).

For such a 'small' film, the scale is sometimes truly cinematic. Director and writer, Lulu Wang, achieves some gloriously memorable movie moments. A stony-faced, determined march of the key players towards the camera - which could be subtitled "The Magnificent Eight" - is slo-mo'd for about 30 seconds and is utterly mesmeric. And a scene at a cemetery is a comic masterpiece of Chinese tradition. Bau of course still has his face in his phone throughout!

This is only Lulu Wang's second feature, but it makes me now want to check out her first film ("Posthumous").

What I found particularly interesting is that the film is truly multi-cultural. It's not an American film with some local content crudely inserted to cater for the Far East markets. The film is an almost equal blend of American language and Mandarin language with subtitles.

Lulu Wang is also not afraid to upset officials in either country. Which is better: US or China? The question keeps getting posed to Billi and discussed among the family. And - as you might expect - there are positives and negatives on each side. The film doesn't really take sides. It's a really balanced position to take.

The music is by Alex Weston, and its one of the stars of the film. It's truly quirky with everything as diverse as a vocalised version of Beethoven's Sonata No. 8 "Pathetique"; a karaoke version of "Killing Me Softly"; and a hugely entertaining Chinese version of Niilson's "Without You" over the end titles.

It's a brilliant ensemble cast (SAG awards, are you listening?), and everyone pulls their weight. Even the minor members of the cast are superb: Aoi Mizuhara in particular displays acute awkwardness brilliantly!

But leading the charge is Awkwafina. She was in the disappointing "Ocean's 8" but much more memorable in "Crazy Rich Asians" as Rachel's wacky Singapore friend. Here it's a bravado performance that is genuinely moving. She IS the slightly sulky but emotionally crushed teen.

"Sub-titles? I don't do sub-titles" - Get a grip! Yes, this is a film that has sub-titles. But it uses them when required (unless you happen to be fluent in Mandarin that is!). There is also a large percentage of the film that is in English. It's all eminently watchable, even for "sub-title-phobes".

This is a feelgood film about a tough subject. The ending of the film pulls off the trick of being both devastating and uplifting at the same time.

So get yourself to the cinema and see this film! Without question, it gets my "highly recommended" tag. It's also firmly placed itself very high up in my "Films of the Year" list.

And it's all "based on a true lie"!

(For the full graphical review, please go to One Mann's Movies on the web or Facebook. Thanks).

Lulu Wang's story of an independent Chinese-American woman returning to China when her beloved grandmother is diagnosed with terminal cancer, is nothing less but captivating. From the very first shot inside a hospital, the director invites you to tag along with this Chinese family, while they struggle to keep the truth from grandma and decide to stage a wedding, just to see her one last time.

Billi (Awkwafina), a twenty-something millennial, lives her life like most New Yorkers do - barely able to pay rent and on the lookout for a new job, she still goes home to mom and dad to do her laundry, knowing well enough she'll have to endure the parental comments while under the same roof. When her mother (Diana Lin) announces the imminent wedding of Billi's cousin, she realises something isn't right. Pressured by Billi's suspicion, her parents quickly confess to the terminal state her grandma Nai Nai (Zhao Shuzhen) is in. Shocked by the news, it doesn't take long before they all end up around the dinner table at Nai Nai back in China, faking their true feelings around the clock.

Wang knows how to direct this tragically heartfelt story in a way not only Chinese families can relate. I, for one, could definitely look back at how my family used to keep secrets from certain relatives, just to "protect" them. Billi's family has problems of their own, with underlying tensions waiting to rise to the surface, and no one is holding back.

Anna Franquesa Solano's cinematography is a beauty. Most of the time, it's as if you're walking through an art gallery - strolling past one lifelike portrait after another. Truly exquisite is the way she captures the feelings of each individual. The vulnerability and sadness in their eyes, conflict with the constant "joie-de-vivre" the old Nai Nai still has going for her.

Everyone knows how good Awkwafina is at comedy, but who knew she'd be able to peel off every layer of that mask, to get to the core of her vulnerable emotions? She and Shuzhen are two peas in a pod, when it comes to giving groundbreaking performances. Shuzhen touches you in a way you can't imagine. An old lady with a big heart and a big mouth, keeping traditions alive while holding her own family together. The gloominess of her diagnosis lingers like a storm, which transcends into a mostly ominous score by Alex Weston.

With The Farewell, A24 can add another classic to their collection, which will go down in the history books as a turning point for Awkwafina and Lulu Wang's careers. A tragically beautiful story that makes you homesick and wants you to hold on to what we sometimes take for granted. Coming home has never felt more therapeutic.

Shuzhen Zhao's hospital report says she has terminal cancer. She has perhaps four months to live. They don't tell her. Instead, the family rushes the marriage of Awkafina's cousin so that they can gather with one one last time, without letting her know anything is wrong.

It's been many years since a good friend insisted I look at Ang Lee's THE WEDDING BANQUET and EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN one after the other. When they were done, he said "Well?" and I said "They're so Jewish!" With his comedies of manners about an emigrant culture that sustains itself willy-nilly, rejected by and rejecting the mainstream, both groups are similar in their reliance on family and the dinner table as a means of staying together. Writer-director Lulu Wang's movie is of a piece with these two, with some very entertaining performances, and insight into what family means to people who are forced to be apart.

A beautiful portrayal of a long farewell and an insight into the difference between western an eastern culture. Powerful performances through and well worth a watch.

Taking a slice from her own life experiences and transitioning it on the film canvas with heartfelt warmth & tenderness, Lulu Wang's The Farewell is an elegantly told family portrait that's crafted with genuine care and is beautifully steered by sincere performances from its wonderful cast.

The story follows a young Chinese-American woman who returns to her homeland when her beloved grandmother is diagnosed with terminal cancer, only to discover that her family has decided to keep her in the dark about her own illness, and has arranged an impromptu wedding to spend time with her one last time.

Written & directed by Lulu Wang, the film scores high on emotions & sentimentality yet earns them over the course of its runtime. It's a poignant ride, with little flashes of hilarity, and offers an insightful look at cultural differences, immigrant experience & family dynamics. And it remains a smooth, engaging ride from start to finish.

Wang's screenplay & direction is no doubt impressive, for she tackles complicated subject matter with composure and refines the cultural specifics in a manner that it strikes a universal chord. Helping her realise her story on the cinematic platform is the all-Asian cast as well who all deliver splendid inputs in their given roles, mainly Awkwafina & Zhao Shuzhen.

On an overall scale, The Farewell is a story of love, death, culture, tradition, family & collectivism that's heartwarming & heartbreaking in equal measure, and marks a major step for Lulu Wang's filmmaking career. Shuzhen's rendition is so delightful & lifelike that we all can see our grandmothers in her, and her infectious charm alone makes this melancholic family drama worth viewing. Don't miss it.

But unfortunately I did not. It was okay which is why I'd rate it above 5 but given the storyline, other reviews and the cast, I had higher expectations.

This film so expertly balances the emotion and humor of keeping a secret. No matter how dire the secret may be, it can often lead to awkward moments. The films soars when it depicts the interactions of all of the family members. It lacks, slightly, in the department of character development. The film stays transfixed on its main plot and doesn't stray for time with the outside family members. That being said, the film provides a ride that is absolutely worth watching.

Awkwafina stars as a young Asian-American professional woman in this down-to-earth, insightful film about a Chinese family that confronts the discovery of an aging grandmother being diagnosed with an advanced stage of cancer. The family is determined to not tell the grandmother about her condition so as to allow her the best state of mind as she lives out the remainder of her life.

Tremendous performances make this film, which would not be the same achievement without the acting that makes these characters utterly real, without judging them or resorting to weepy melodrama. In addition, there is the theme of a clash of views between Asian-Americans who have learned western values and the long-standing traditional values of Chinese families. There is also a contrast in backdrops, with Awkwafina's protagonist's laid-back lifestyle at home in New York compared to the sterile, concrete character of China.

Although the film has a comedic element with Awkwafina at the helm, this is more a slow-burn film about the psychological toll of impending family loss. It is never overdone and there are no cheap tears here. This film, in the end, earns its emotional impact. I don't cry watching a film, but I came close here. For patient viewers, this will is a must-see. Gladly recommended.

The original title for this post was "'The Farewell' Review: An Angsty Awkwafina Headlines This One Note Song." That was before we noticed that the film currently maintains a 99% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

After seeing that, we had to take stock of the situation by contemplating whose opinion is closer to being "correct" with regard to judging the overall quality of the movie: ours or mainstream critics.

For comparison, last year's breakout foreign film 'Shoplifters' also maintains a 99% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It won the Palm d'Or at Cannes in addition to 43 other awards around the world. The plot to 'Shoplifters' is wonderfully deep and complex. The acting is superb and the camerawork is among the best of the year.

Alternatively, 'The Farewell' exhibits almost none of those attributes. The plot is rather mundane, we're never given much of a reason to care about any of the characters, and the dialogue is pedestrian, at best.

So we'll leave it to you, film fans, to tell us who you agree with more: us or them. Go see the film, form an opinion, and let us know on social media.

Saw this movie last week because my friend had free tickets. As an Asian American, I had high expectations for this but it just left me feeling very "meh". It was supposed to be a comedy but I only laughed two or three times. It was more of a melodrama if nothing else.

The performances were okay. No one impressed me and I thought Awkwafina was passable at best. Most of the time she was just moping around and looking sad.

I know this is supposed to be some kind of important movie dealing with a serious topic but I just found myself really bored and un-engaged. Don't get me wrong, it was well made and all but it just didn't do it for me. I felt like I was at my cousins' house listening to them argue about random BS and couldn't wait to leave.

The Farewell is phenomenal and one of the best films of 2019.

Awkwafina sheds her usual persona to take on this role and she is truly fantastic. The real standout here, however, is Shuzhen Zhao as Nai Nai. She's funny, down to Earth, and absolutely heartbreaking. It's a brilliant performance from a phenomenal older Chinese actress and I hope she's remembered come award season (same with Awkwafina).

Lulu Wang has written an absolutely beautiful and personal film and has clearly poured her heart out into it. Her dialogue is funny, human, and poetic. Most of the film is in Mandarin, but don't worry. The translations have kept the jokes truly funny and the dramatic moments have retained their weight. It's a pretty bilingual film, so if subtitles worry you, don't worry. It's a great screenplay.

I think this is an extremely accessible film that you can bring the whole family to and I hope it gets a wide release and does well. I can't recommend it enough. I hope it does well financially and gets award recognition. I like to see beautiful, small, personal projects do well and this is a truly great movie.