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.

Absolutely love the narrative, excellent writing! It gave me hope to be honest lovely film worth the watch indeed.

This film is really well made. The interactions feel real. The acting is incredible. The story is unique compared to other low-key struggling-to-survive-in-the-big-city films-and it's really a lot more about the difficult sacrifices the characters had to make prior to the start of the film. It pulls you in quickly and keeps you entertained.

I'm not much of a reviewer, but I encourage anyone reading this to watch this film. It's definitely one of my cinematic highlights of 2020.

I'm not sure how representative it is of new immigrant refugee families in the USA-it's perhaps a bit too optimistic in its message-but in these dark times, sometimes that's what the audience wants.

This was a very good realistic reconnection story.

"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.