"The Farewell" is a Tender Story of Familial Love and Loss



Writer-Director Lulu Wang's film, The Farewell saw its worldwide premiere at Sundance Film Festival. In the film, Crazy Rich Asians star Awkwafina plays Billi, a young New Yorker who is devastated when she learns that her grandmother, affectionately known as Nai Nai is dying of lung cancer.

She learns of the illness when her parents alert her that they have learned of the grandmother's diagnosis but have decided not to tell her. Instead, the family has concocted an elaborate plan to fly to China and host a wedding between Billi's cousin Hao Hao and his girlfriend of three months as a rouse to see Nai Nai before she passes away.

Set to a strikingly beautiful soundtrack, the film is marked by an underlying tone representative of humanity's fear of the unknown as the entire family grapples with grief and the desire to be unified as a family.

The film also contained many wonderful comedic moments that broke up the tension of an otherwise gloomy situation to create a feeling of hopefulness and togetherness as the family banded together to share the burden of the grandmother's diagnosis. The Farewell is a moving requiem to family and the very human experience of love and grief.

Previously posted on Dig In Magazine. View the original article here: www.diginmag.com 

Rating: B

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