8/19/19 - The Farewell- 7/10

I really really enjoyed this film, but I don’t know what to say about it. It was a film that was easy to get absorbed into, a film to feel, but particular coherent critical analysis is escaping me. It was fairly fantastic film that kind of evokes that tender emotion, especially towards your grandmother. It was just damn good.

Awkwafina was pretty good actually. Better than I have seen her before, in Ocean’s or Crazy Rich Asians. Of course she brings the comedic timing, but she also brought a grit and realistic morose to this tormented performance. Her character and performance were relatable and thoroughly realized. Completely sucked me in.

The score was an expansively bombastic and operatic one, providing the subtext of emotion that is so tightly restrained in the culture & particular story being told. It also hearkened back to a previous time, much like the clash of cultures and the loss of who they were & wanted to be from who they are now. Complicated relationships are detailed through and captured with key interactions, situational compositions, and spot-on metaphors. The wayward bird, always around but never at home, as well as the expellant tai-chi shared between the closest/most separated of family emphasized just the right tone and meaning.

Sweet and emotional, belying its oppressively melancholy and twisted subject. Still, it is fun enough to keep the lie light. See it.