The Farewell, "Farewell," which begins tomorrow in theaters in the country, begins with the phrase: "Adapted from a True Fool." The film, written and directed by Chinese-American Lulu Wang, stems from a personal experience that reflects her feelings and contradicts her American and Chinese cultures.
The film carries cosmic family values that can be found in both Eastern and Western societies. The crisis concerns director Wang, whose grandmother was dying in China, and the family decided not to tell the grandmother about her illness to protect her from living in fear for the rest of her life.
When the family, whose members immigrated to Japan and the United States, decided to gather to bid farewell to the grandmother before her death, they planned to do so strangely: to plan a wedding that would ensure that they would once again gather for the grandmother's presence and to make sure that everything was fine.
Fool with good intentions
Wang hired her story, which reflects sincerity and deception with good intentions, and turned it into a sad and cute film at the same time. It also has a good performance from an actress with no artistic history, the American-Chinese rapper Nora Lum, famous for the title of Okavina, which embodies Wang in the story.
The American-American writer who spent her life in New York and the ambitious Billy (Okawina) enjoys a close relationship with Nai Nai - meaning Chinese grandmother - (Zhao Xuzen), who lives in Chang Chen, northeast China. After receiving a scholarship rejection letter, Bailey discovers from her parents Hyan (Tze Ma) and Jian (Diana Lane) that her grandmother has lung cancer and is expected to live only a few months.
By deceiving and manipulating medical examinations, the doctor and the grandmother's family keep the diagnosis secret and tell her that the tumor is benign and curable to protect her from fear in her last days. The wedding of Hao Hao (Qin Han) is organized in China - Billy's cousin who originally lived in Japan - and used it as a reason for the family's last gathering with Grandma before she died. Pelly's parents ask her to stay in New York for fear of revealing the lie and telling her grandmother the truth.
The big lie
Okawina was selected for the role after her outstanding appearance in Ocean's 8 and Rich Wealthy Asians last year, but here we are surprised by an absolute starring role. Here she appears confident and natural, and enjoys great appeal and presence on the screen even when her role is bleak.
On the other hand, Tze is also impressive in the role of a painful father for his mother's illness, a role that is quite different from his reincarnation of the dreaded figure of Chinese intelligence officer Zheng Zi in the series 24.
Billy, from New York, is shocked by the big lie used by her Oriental people, and even more shocked when she learns it is a routine practice in China. The grandmother hid her husband's illness until he died. Lying is no stranger to Billy as we see at the beginning of the film, but there is a difference between a lie and another.
Wang employs revelation, body language and quick glimpses between Billy and her parents as husband and wife to explain the dynamic relationship between these characters, through what is not directly said in the dialogues. Here, in this section, Wang explores the cultural differences between East and West without making a judgment, criticism or statement, whichever is better.
It is akin to a dialogue director who tries to bridge the views without boycotting either side and with a broad and open mind that understands the differences and contradictions.
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Grandma's character
Despite her illness and aging, the grandmother misses nothing, from criticizing the wedding menu to Billy's body shape and waist, especially after she became a young woman. But all these observations - whether they come from a Chinese, American or Arab grandmother - there is no doubt that they stem from a loving, caring heart.
It may seem surprising that half of the film's main theme of illness and death is a happy or optimistic experience, but Wang managed to adjust the tone of the film in this regard. Cancer films often contain hospital scenes, patients receiving chemotherapy, suffering and pain.
Death movies contain gloomy grief scenes. "Farewell" avoids these known trends of the class and focuses on existential issues without losing its credibility. The end result is an affirmation of the importance of life, not the inevitability of death. This is a very nice movie and worth watching.
View cultural differences
Wang's style of displaying cultural differences is so beautiful that the viewer is emotionally linked to the family and her life in the film. You may have the strangest questions you would not have asked yourself before watching it, and how to deal with this dilemma.
The film carries universal family values and cultural contradictions between two civilizations that reflected the origin and origins of the Chinese director.