THE FAREWELL : Tuesday 17th September 2019.

'THE FAREWELL' is a PG Rated American comedy drama Directed, Written and Co-Produced by Chinese born American film maker, Producer and Writer Lulu Wang and apparently loosely based on her own life experiences. Made for just US$3M, the film saw its Premier screening at January's Sundance Film Festival before its wider US release in mid-July having taken so far US$18M and generated mostly widespread critical acclaim.

Born in China, aspiring writer Billi Wang (Awkwafina) moved to the US with her father Haiyan Wang (Tzi Ma) and mother Jian Wang (Diana Lin) when she was a child but kept up a close, albeit long distance, relationship with her beloved Nai Nai (Zhao Shuzhen), meaning paternal grandmother in Mandarin, her father’s mother therefore. Having been rejected for a prestigious arts fellowship grant, Billi learns from her parents that Nai Nai has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, and has been given but just a few months to live.

Nai Nai is however, blissfully unaware of this diagnosis, as she was accompanied to the hospital for her tests by her younger sister, Little Nai Nai (Lu Hong) who then received the test results before Nai Nai was able to sight them. Through deception and manipulation of these medical test results therefore, Nai Nai is, instead, falsely told that her most recent scans revealed only benign shadows which are now receding, and therefore she is in the clear.

An impromptu, and fake, wedding for Billi's cousin, Hao Hao (Chen Han), from Japan has been planned in China, as an excuse to reunite the family (for the first time in some twenty years) to spend what is expected to be one last time with Nai Nai. Fearing Billi will end up exposing the lie to her grandmother because she can't yet keep her emotions in check, Haiyan and Jian tell her to remain in New York for fear of giving their ruse away. 

Haiyan and Jian fly out to Changchun to be with Nai Nai leaving Billi at home, but Billi disobeys her parents' orders and travels to Changchun, the day after the rest of the family have arrived. Billi makes a commitment, albeit very reluctantly, to her parents that she will not reveal the cancer diagnosis to Nai Nai. She clashes on more than one occasion, however, with the rest of the family, including the Hospital Doctor treating her grandmother, over their deliberate dishonesty towards her grandmother. 

Overcome with emotions of guilt, Billi expresses mixed thoughts with her parents over the Chinese cultural beliefs that give rise to a family refusing to disclose such a life-threatening disease with the family matriarch. One evening, her Uncle, Haibin (Jiang Yongbo), reasserts that the lie allows the family to bear the emotional burden of the diagnosis, rather than Nai Nai herself, so allowing her to spend her last few months in peace and happiness. Billi subsequently learns that Nai Nai also told a similar lie to her husband up until his death when he was terminally ill.

Come the wedding day and during the lavish banquet held for numerous family and close friends afterwards, Haibin speaks on behalf of himself and his brother and breaks down in tears on stage while thanking his mother for making him the successful man he became. A short time later Hao Hao also breaks down in tears for reasons that are not entirely clear, but both are able to proceed through the rest of the banquet ceremony and formalities as planned without raising Nai Nai's suspicions.

Later that same evening, Nai Nai gives Billi a traditional red envelope containing a sum of money, encouraging her to spend the cash gift as she chooses, but not on bills. When Billi reveals to her grandmother that the art fellowship application fell through, Nai Nai responds by positively encouraging Billi to continue pursuing her dreams anyway as she is a smart girl. 

Billi maintains her commitment to keep the secret and shares a tearful goodbye with Nai Nai, as the rest of the visiting family members return to their homes in Japan and America. The credits reveal that six years after her diagnosis, the woman Nai Nai's character was based on is still very much alive and still practising her Tai Chi.

I did quite enjoy 'The Farewell', but that's about as far as my praise goes. Sure the film has a couple of funny moments - particularly a scene where the gathered family are leaving various offerings to the spirit of Nai Nai's long since deceased husband by his graveside, and another scene involving a collapsing umbrella during a rain storm - and the film also has moments of warmth and heartbreak too. Awkwafina also gives a stand out performance proving her acting chops once again and this time in a more dramatic role despite the look of perpetual sorrow, grief and angst inhibiting her face. As for Zhao Shuzhen's Nai Nai, well she just about steals every scene she's in dispensing her own brand of wit, wisdom and earnest advice whilst remaining completely oblivious to what is really going on around her. The other cast members also all hold their own, especially Tzi Ma, Diana Lin and Jiang Yongbo. The film is ultimately quite watchable, painless and has just about enough weight to carry it through its near one hundred minute run time, but, it's almost instantly forgettable, drags and meanders particularly in the middle section, is devoid of any real emotional heft and the comedic moments are few and far between.

'The Farewell' warrants three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, from a potential five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-