The Farewell (2019, PG)

I missed this one when it was in theaters – it came to my local cinema at a busy time for me and didn’t stay in town long enough to get a chance to see it. I’m glad to have remedied that now that it’s out on DVD, because it’s a really wonderful little film (premise spoilers.)

Billie is confused when her parents tell her they’re going to China for her cousin’s wedding, since he and his girlfriend have only been dating for a few months. However, the actual truth surprises her even more: her nai nai (grandmother) has stage-four lung cancer, but the family, having decided not to tell her, is throwing a fake wedding as an excuse for everyone to come see her before she goes. Lying to her nai nai about her terminal illness feels bizarre and wrong to Billie, but her parents make it clear: if she wants to come to the “wedding,” she can’t give the truth away.

This is obviously a unique, compelling premise, inspired by events from writer/director Lulu Wang’s own life. The whole family feels the strain of having to hide their sadness and pretend it’s a happy occasion, with Nai Nai none the wiser. For Billie, it’s also a manifestation of her estrangement from her Chinese childhood. While the practice is relatively common in China, her Chinese-American sensibilities can’t fathom this, and it takes everything she has to hold it together.

It’s a great indie film, filled with little details and quiet moments that enrich the story and the experience. It manages to be heartbreakingly sad and fantastically funny, often from moment to moment, and it follows a spare, less-is-more principle while also dropping extra nuggets into the background of countless scenes. From start to finish, the film demonstrates Wang’s deft hand as both a writer and a director, and the steadiness she displays is impressive considering how deeply personal the story is.

I’ve liked everything I’ve seen Awkwafina in, and she’s wonderful here as Billie. It’s a very different sort of role for her – while the film definitely has a lot of surprising moments of humor, it’s a more subdued movie and a subtler performance. Her non-verbal acting is excellent, and her scenes with Shuzhen Zhao’s Nai Nai are the heart of the film. Also noteworthy are Diana Lin and the always-reliable Tzi Ma as Billie’s parents, but honestly, everyone is doing great work here. This is a film that wastes no opportunity and in which every instance has been crafted with care.

Warnings

Thematic elements, language, and drinking/smoking.