By: Grace Conley

“Awkwafina Should Do More Serious Roles.” 

The Farewell (2019) is a very beautiful and honest film. It is so rooted in real life, and personal that it takes you on a mesmerizing journey about family.

This is definitely one of my favorite indie films of the year. It is just so damn touching. A lot of the time when a movie is based on real-life, it can go down this route, of trying to be real with absolutely everything and then the narrative falls flat. The story arc is ruined, or it goes the other way where it’s too loosely based off of the story and it no longer feels personal.

The Farewell falls in the perfect middle ground where the story is dramatized enough that the arc is satisfying, but is reserved in its dialogue of making the film feel ultra-realistic and every moment important. This movie is pretty short, only about an hour and thirty minutes, but so much is packed into that short run time that you don’t want the story to end.

The cast is phenomenal in this film. Awkwafina is surprisingly amazing. I have never seen her in a dramatic role before, but she was wonderful.

This movie covers so many themes, but by the end, you’ll be wanting to call your distant family and try to live in the moment.

You can tell how heartfelt this movie is just by watching the audience. There were multiple times where everyone in the theater fell silent. No popcorn eating or drink sipping or shifting in chairs, just a group of people all engulfed in the story. It’s beautiful!

And the score! It’s so simple, classical music but it’s used so effectively.

The directing is also incredible, Lulu Wang has an incredible style and you can tell just from the cinematography how close this story is to her.

This movie is an emotional rollercoaster and I loved it, it’s not often that you see a movie this good that’s rated PG. I highly recommend.

Verdict

9.6 out of 10