Tropic Sprockets / The Farewell

Tropic Sprockets / The Farewell

By Ian Brockway

“The Farewell” by Lulu Wang is a bittersweet yet engaging tale about the perils of a Chinese family, and their efforts in supporting a matriarch in crisis. It is a heartwarming film, far from sad, despite its subject. But more importantly, it is a family portrait full of wistful glances, eccentricity and quirk.

Grandmother Nai (Zhao Shuzhen) has cancer. The family has promised not to tell her, reasoning, according to tradition that if the relative is told, he or she dies from the hex of knowing.

Billi (Awkwafina) is living in New York City. She loves her grandmother and wants to visit her, but mom and dad refuse. Such a visit would only call attention to the situation and make her grandmother sad.

The family decides to ignore the grim diagnosis and focus instead on the wedding of grandson (Chen Han) and fiancée (Aoi Mizuhara) who are clearly not in love, only knowing one another for three months.

Billi defies her parents and flies to China. Nai is delighted. Billi is wracked with guilt, feeling that since Nai Nai is terminal she ought to know. Meanwhile Nai Nai is festive and joyful, taking an interest in her relatives, content with Billi’s visit. Conversely, the family is tense and fatigued, wondering if and when Nai Nai will discern the truth of her condition.

Zhao Shuzhen is excellent as the grandmother, who is perfectly in harmony with herself, the calm within a storm. This is also Awkwafina’s role as Billi, her best role so far. She is genuine, subtle and wonderfully understated. That said, the actor is capable of striking emotion and she goes satisfyingly beyond her role in “Crazy Rich Asians.” Although every role is solid, the film belongs to Zhao Shuzhen. This actor is the embodiment of tranquility, joy and equilibrium.

The magic of “The Farewell” is that it is not about saying goodbye at all but about saying hello and existing intimately with those one loves. As a grandmother, Nai Nai, is a Taoist divining rod pointing to the folly of worry.

Write Ian at [email protected]

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