The Farewell
Consolidated Ward
Pupule rating: 2.6 (out of 4)
SPOILER ALERT
This is filled with great performances. It could have been a great movie. Magnificently shot. More substance than clutter.
I am all for plot-driven, actor-reliant, beautifully-written stories. The Farewell checks many of the boxes on my list. That includes amazing chemistry within this cast, which stars Awkwafina as the admirable grand-daughter, Billi, who only wants to do the right thing for her beloved popo. (Na Na is played elegantly by Shuzhen Zhou.)
Awkwafina carries this film, as does Zhou. When they are together, just them, it almost feels like we are peering into a real-life conversation. It is almost too powerful, the quiet, joyful and somber moments between these two. Their scenes together are so natural, so honest and poignant, yet the one thing that could have made this film a classic would have been courage. Yes, it is perplexing that none of the family, and not even popo's doctor, saw anything of value in being fully honest with her. Seeing Billi melt into her family's policy of hiding truth was a stark contrast to her nature. It was painful to see.
I didn't need a full reveal. I didn't need to see grandma crying bitterly about a disease, lung cancer, caused by her long gone, cigarette-toking husband. But I did need, and I mean NEED, to see popo have some sense of insight or even knowledge of all the information that her own doctor and family refused to give her.
To play out every minute of this movie until the final 15 seconds — a quick clip of popo healthy and doing her daily kung fu exercise "SIX YEARS LATER" — was truly disappointing. I'm not saying Asian culture is wrong. I'm saying the woman who is this grandmother, a truly regal matriarch of this family, could and would not have been content to believe all these little lies in her surroundings. NO.
Producers' choice. Writers' choice. Whatever. But they let this percolate and bubble beneath the surface for an entire length of a film, and nobody had the guts. Why so bitter? In real life, we tell our loved ones the truth, particularly after they have lived a long life and raised us from day one. By avoiding the grit and suffering that comes with disease and old age, this film painted everything over with one stroke of a Disney-ish fairy tale at the close.
I hate to say it because I loved these performances, but these actors were short-changed. The closest we get to anyone besides Awkwafina coming to terms with a sense of loss is when she and her mother leave popo in a taxi and head back to the airport, departing China for the US. Her mother says everything without a single word, her eyes looking out of the back-seat window, struggling to keep it together. Awkwafina peering at a rare moment of emotion from mom.
Why not more than that? Dad. Uncle. Aunties. Cousins. One cousin is on the verge of losing control, and her reverts to getting drunk. That's far as it goes. Maybe the writers decided, well, that's how it is in real life.
Weak sauce. 'Nuff said.
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