Farewell Amor

"Farewell Amor" is director Ekwa Msangi's feature film debut but you would never guess it as this remarkable film feels like the work of someone who has been making films for years. The plot revolves around an Angolian woman who comes to America with her teenage daughter to be reunited with her husband after an absence of 17 years only to discover they are virtually strangers and it's told from the point of view of all three of them. However, this is no grim problem picture but a surprisingly upbeat account of lives coming together and how something as simple as dance, for example, can engage people on the most basic of levels.

The three central performances are outstanding as Msangi glides her cast seamlessly through the twists and turns of her characters' lives while getting in some nifty dance moves in the process. The fact that the wife and mother, (a splendid Zainab Jah), is deeply religious while her husband, (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, equally good), has lost his religion, if he ever had any, doesn't help matters just as her fidelity and his infidelity over the years proves a major hurdle they must overcome. But, as I said, grimness is put on the back-burner and this lovely character study is all the better for it.

Looks real nice. That's just about all the positive things I can say about this movie.

"Farewell Amor" is a both touching and ravishing drama that tells poetically about the challenges of immigration, family, and self-discovery. Directed by Ekwa Msangi, it's about the story of an Angolan family reuniting in New York City after 17 years apart. Jayme Lawson, Zainab Jah, and Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine all turn in fine performances as the beleaguered parents, daughters, and sons trying to adjust to their new lives. Intimacy and realism are further added to by Msangi's handling of the narrative herself, one that keeps rigorously tight focus on the feelings of her characters and culture conflicts. Through its folk story-like plot, its balanced characters, and moving cinematography, "Farewell Amor" becomes a very powerful portrayal of love, strength, family bonding.

"Farewell Amor" is a beautiful film that tells the same story from three different perspectives: the father, the daughter, and the mother. Director and writer Ekwa Msangi unravels the story of an African family separated and reunited after 17 years. Time changes and so do the behavior, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes of each character, how to live as a family after 17 years of separation due to Civil War in Angola? Mr. Msangi is not concerned in giving us the answer. There is a beautiful passage that uses dance as a metaphor for this situation: "When we met, we didn't know if we would live to see the next day; We didn't know who was a comrade, who was an informant, who was there for the right... so we danced... When I moved, you follow, When you hesitate, I slow down Because we could feel each other..." The only issue with this movie is the slow pace but if you can get through the first hour then you will get hooked on the plot.

This was a wonderful, nuanced performance by the three principal actors in this drama. We follow their trajectory and adaptation as they arrive and settle in New York. Mother and daughter have been apart from their husband/father for 17 years as he worked in NYC. They had fled their homeland in Angola for Dars es Salaam in Tanzania.

They try to adjust to the enormous differences that have developed over this long time period.

This could easily have evolved into an over-extended melodrama - but instead we witness characters interacting and overcoming each other's short-comings.