The Farewell

Director: Lulu Wang

2019, 98 minutes, Digital, PG

English & Chinese

Cast: Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin, Shuzhen Zhou

Distributor: A24

The film follows a Chinese family who, when they discover their beloved Grandmother has only a short while left to live, decide to keep her in the dark and schedule an impromptu wedding to gather before she passes. Billi, feeling like a fish out of water in her home country, struggles with the family’s decision to hide the truth from her grandmother.

“Known mostly as a comic actress and YouTube star, Awkwafina delivers a muted, subtly expressive performance in The Farewell, which possesses a generous helping of laughs, but never at the expense of the rueful tenderness at its core, a tonal balance that is skillfully maintained by a wonderful ensemble of mostly Chinese actors.” – Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post