'The Farewell' turns a real-life lie into a masterclass in balancing laughs, tears and pure joy — it's the movie of the year, says Peter Travers. Our review
is billed as “based on an actual lie.” The deception does not sit well with the scrupulous Billi — a writer based in Brooklyn — who isn’t exactly being honest about the fact that’s she’s been turned down for a Guggenheim Fellowship. She hasn’t been home to Changchun, China, since her mother Jian and father Haiyan emigrated to New York when she was six. At first, her parents try to hide Nai Nai’s condition from Billi.
A stratagem is invented to get the whole family together in China for the first time in 25 years. They are all there, of course, to say goodbye to Nai Nai. But it’s the rushed wedding of family member Hao Hao and his Japanese girlfriend Aiko that works as a cover story — if the wedding guests can keep from crying, of course. The ceremony itself is a hoot, but though there are comic elements abound, Wang never turns the story into a screwball farce.
Not Billi, of course. In an award-caliber performance that builds along with the film, Awkwafina reaches a brilliant peak during a scene in which Billi opens the floodgates to her mother, achieving a release that audiences are most likely feeling themselves depending how much Nai Nai’s story is hitting home. InWang builds a funny, touching and vital film about what makes a family in any culture. It’s simply stunning.
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