The Farewell (2019)

Film: The Farewell (2019)
Stars: Awkafina, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin, Zhao Shuzhen
Director: Lulu Wang
Oscar History: Awkafina scored a Golden Globe, but couldn't translate that into any love from Oscar.
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

In 2019, I have to admit, we've been hard-pressed for proper breakout hits that don't feature a Disney logo somewhere on their bottom line.  While the year continues to have record box offices, smaller films, or even mid-level films, have struggled to find a foothold in the zeitgeist or to feel like the sorts of movies that will gain Oscar traction (it's definitely one of those years where you can believe that December movies will be more present on awards show red carpets than usual).  So when a film actually peaks out from behind the curtain like The Farewell, a predominantly foreign-language film with an unproven (though admittedly increasingly well-known) star that manages to crack $10 million at the box office, it's time to sit-up and pay attention, as these are the sorts of things that spell out a Best Picture nomination and a major Oscar contender.  But the question remains-is it any good?

(Spoilers Ahead) The film focuses on Billi (Awkafina), a Chinese-American woman who is an aspiring writer, but mostly flits from job-to-job in New York City, struggling to make rent while trying to be an artist.  She has a complicated relationship with her immigrant parents (Ma & Lin), particularly her mother, but seems to have a strong bond with her grandmother (Shuzhen), whom she calls consistently and seems to be the most encouraging to her dreams.  One day, her parents tell her that her grandmother Nai Nai is dying of cancer, but that they aren't going to tell her that she has cancer, as that isn't the custom in China.  Billi struggles to understand this wish, and initially isn't invited to a "fake" wedding between Billi's cousin and a woman he's only known for a few months, but she flies over anyway and tries to connect with her family in a way she hasn't since she was a little girl.  The film opens up old and new wounds, but ultimately shows the tight bond that families, even separated by thousands of miles, inevitably share thanks to their combined history.

Much has been made about the universality of the film's message, which I find a bit pedantic (are we still really at a point where we can't have a discussion of another culture's experiences without making sure to include the "I'm like that too!" message as an asterisk?), but there is a point to it.  The film has moments that seem alien to western culture (the karaoke at the wedding, the series of engagement photos with a staged backdrop, etc), and of course it would be illegal in the United States to perpetrate such a ruse-here, Nai Nai would be the first person to receive her medical diagnosis.  But the reality is that the diagnosis itself is more of a red herring than anything else (in fact, the "real life" Nai Nai is still alive six years after her "terminal" diagnosis, in some ways proving the film's point).  The movie is more about showing the deep bonds between people who love each other, even if they were kind of forced to do so by birth or marriage.

This gives us the best moments of the film, like when Billi has to navigate a mother who clearly doesn't understand her (and vice versa).  It also might be a bit of the film's Achilles' heel.  We have side characters that don't feel as fleshed out as they need to for our emotional connection.  I was fascinated by Billi's cousin Hao Hao, who barely speaks a word in the movie even though he's at its center-what does he think?  Does he approve of this marriage, or is he even interested in his new bride?  I wanted more answers.  The film has these gaps, and there are moments toward the end where instead of answering them and having more hard questions about the questions that they've opened, they fill it with sentimentality and out-of-character calls for apology.

But the movie is still worth seeing.  Awkafina is good, though like many comedians making a play into drama for the first time, she occasionally confuses flatness-of-character for drama, rather than infusing the film with the same charisma she'd bring to her comedy.  Shuzhen is the film's standout as the grandmother, making her American film debut (she's a veteran of Chinese soap operas).  In a different year she'd be a slam dunk for a nomination, possibly even a win, but I wonder if Oscar will latch on, as (as I mentioned above) they don't oftentimes nominate Asian actors (it's arguably one of the most under-discussed aspects of AMPAS's history) and they really don't care for supporting performances that are largely in a foreign language (Marina de Tavira & Valentina Cortese are the only two women who have been nominated for supporting roles in foreign language films).  It's the sort of role you gravitate toward, even if it's occasionally underwritten, but it's deeply-felt and the final moments she's onscreen, potentially understanding what her body is saying (or just understanding the fleeting nature of life, where this always might be the last time you see some of the few people you've allowed yourself to love), is poignant and worth the ticket.