Sundance: Awkwafina in "The Farewell"
Sunday, January 27, 2019 at 7:00PM Murtada Elfadl reporting from Sundance
Big family gatherings can be tough. Especially when the gathered family are dispersed all over the world and live disparate lives. In The Farewell, a family gathers in China, ostensibly for a cousin’s wedding. Some flew in from Japan, some from the United States and some are, of course, local. As the conversation gets real and tense about living in different places, what values and opportunities you get and lose when you leave the home country, the film hit me hard. It reminded me of my own family and gatherings like this. When reality forces families to disperse, the push/pull of old vs new country can get contentious, emotional, and raw. Writer/director Lulu Wang captures this exact tension acutely. She also writes with love and authenticity about family so The Farewell hits an emotional bullseye.
Front and center is Awkwafina as a young Chinese-American artist, Billi, living in New York with her immigrant parents...