A Chinese family discovers their grandmother has only a short while left to live and decide to keep her in the dark, scheduling a wedding to gather before she dies.
Cancer is life-changing! Not only does it alter one’s physicality, but it also presents a deeply emotional challenge that undeniably forges relationships between direct and indirect conspirators of life. This emotionally-charged yet somewhat comedic film about a Stage 4 Lung Cancer diagnosis, gives the audience a peripheral view of a family’s and a culture’s differing and divisive opinions about how everyone (patient not included) should deal with the prospect of death looming over the matriarch of the family. When the opening scene is a disclaimer that pretty much tells you what you’re about to see is “based on a lie,” then it should prepare you for about an hour and a half of shameless overreacting that will cause you to wonder why you didn’t take the warning literally and save yourself a hella heapful of emotional drama. But I digress.
Billi’s (Awkwafina) grandmother Nai Nai (Shuzhen Zhao) had been a forever present and nurturing force in her life. While she was only physically around her growing up in Changchun, China until she was six, they still remained in constant communication with one another long after Billi attempted to pursue a writing career in New York. Billy’s grandmother always gave her advice and she truly believed that Billi was more than capable of holding her own, and spreading her wings to fly would be the best thing she could do bring the family honor. After a series of doctor visits for a persistent cough, Nai Nai is diagnosed with terminal cancer and the family makes a decision that it would be best not to burden Nai Nai with the news. The entire plot begins to form as Billi doesn’t agree with the family’s approach and she must learn, on her own terms, how to deal with the diagnosis and pretend along with the others that her cousin’s fake wedding, which is a ruse to reunite the entire family, is the best way to celebrate Nai Nai’s life, or what is left of it.
Director Lulu Wang seems to have followed a unique path of expressing cultural norms and establishing a ritual in clashing Eastern and Western cultural beliefs as they pertain to personal and societal practices in dealing with life, lifestyles, and death. In the role of Billi, Awkwafina turns her comedic artillery down and opts for a stoic, yet highly emotional human who seems to be getting a raw deal from both her parents and from Nai Nai herself, who seems to be enjoying living while just a tad bit concerned about what she has been told are “benign shadows.” While the topics of the family discussions are heavy and burdensome, in reality, the small celebrations and diverse reactions to coping are lessons to be learned by all. With mixed emotions, the audience is able to find hope in the cheating of death, while being blindsided by the ever-present prospect of mortality. “The Farewell” gives life and livelihood fuel while giving death just enough rope to hang itself.
Available on Blu-ray™ (plus Digital) and DVD from Lionsgate and On-Demand from A24 November 12th
