Some facts first. With this, her second feature, writer-director Lulu Wang shares her very personal experience with the audience, a story "based on a true lie", as she wittily puts it. This is a U.S. movie with its dialogue mainly in Mandarin, set in the city of Changchun in North-eastern China. "The farewell" enjoys an enviable collection of ratings: critics' Metascore of 89, IMDb users' 8.0 and Rotten Tomato's 99!
As the onscreen realization of Wang, protagonist Billi (Awkwafina) is a thirty-year-old New Yorker, immigrated with her parent when she was a small child, leaving behind a world she was familiar and comfortable with. Today, the "Americanized" family converse in English (parents still with distinct accents while Billi indistinguishable from a born New Yorker) although Billi can still carry a conversation in Mandarin if necessary, such as when going to visit her hometown in China.
The movie opens with Billi talking on her cell phone with Nai Nai (grandma) half way around the globe, with intimacy playful and affectionate, both. The old lady is waiting at the hospital for test result for her incessant coughing. The narrative moves briskly to the parents telling Billi that they are going to Changchun tomorrow to attend the wedding of her cousin Hao Hao who, like her, had immigrated when a small child, but to Japan. The joy of the occasion, however, is not reflected in the parent's gloomy silence. With persistence, Billi finally finds out that while the wedding is a happy occasion, it is also sort of a proxy funeral. Hao Hao has been with his Japanese girlfriend Aiko for only a few months but things cannot wait. Nai Nai, unknown to herself, has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and has been given three months to live, if that. Close members of the family would know that this is their last farewell to Nai Nai, who is the only person in the dark. The parents do not want Billi to go because her natural emotions would likely betray her. The day after the parent's arrival at Changchun, at a family dinner, Billi shows up. The rest of the story takes place in Changchun.
A very remarkable thing I gradually noticed was the natural and simple tone of the narrative. While the main plotline of a "proxy funeral" (I coined) is somewhat unusual, the subject matter is familiar: the ethics of whether to let a terminally ill patients know their condition. Even more familiar are the backdrops of cultural clashes, identity issues of immigrants, mother- and daughter-in-law relationship, just to name the three most universal ones. Low-key, natural and non-judgmental, Wang's style in relating these issues is a credit to her. All these, together with the universality, add up to a world you can easily relate to, and immerse in. As well, there is the highly welcomed absence of stereotyped cliché, which is tantamount to talking to you in a refreshingly calm voice instead of yelling and shouting to get your attention.
By the end of the movie, you feel like being a part of the family, embracing their endearing qualities as well as understandable shortcomings. Most wonderful is Nai Nai, irrepressible, young-at-heart but at the same time also observant and considerate. Hao Hao the bridegroom, with a head of loveable shaggy hair, is a kidult who, while taciturn outwardly, has been endowed with passionate emotions. His Japanese bride Aiko, speaking no Chinese, gives a very nice speech at the wedding (in Japanese, with a translator). The very fact that she has agreed to this rushed marriage shows her kind and accommodating nature. The father carries the burden of the first generation as well as he can. The mother has a steely disposition which her husband sometimes leans on. The uncle (Hao Hao's father) is all common sense and self-control, until he breaks down in uncontrollable tears speaking in his son's wedding, thanking "the most important person", his mother, who has made all the sacrifices living as a widow without her sons by her side all these years. There are quite a few other characters, minor but all given their moments in the movie.
Now, to the cast. Awkwafina (Nora Lam) is probably best known to the general audience as a first-rate scene-stealer after "Ocean's 8" and "Crazy Rich Asians". The interesting thing is that she was cast for this movie before the other two. Here, you see her with an entirely different persona. As Billi the struggling artist in the Big Apple, she is effortlessly natural: low-key, no-nonsense, grounded and a little bit defiant. This fits in perfectly with the tone of the movie which is never mawkish or sentimental. This approach of Wang's makes the affection between grandmother and granddaughter that much more touching. Two other women in the cast both gave solid performances: Shuzhen Zhao as Nai Nai and Diana Lin as the mother, particularly the former. Playing the father is Tzi Ma whose face will be familiar, if you have watched the series "The man in the high castle", as the Japanese general.
This is not exactly the sort of movie where you wonder if there is a post credit scene. But you will stay back for the end credit if you have a soft spot for "Without you", be it Mariah Carey's, Air Supply's, or any other version. Here, we hear a rendition by Fredo Viola's beautiful lyric tenor.
