The Farewell (2019) - It's Not About What You Do!

★★★☆☆

This is a story about Chinese rather than a Chinese story, despite directed by Chinese featuring an all-Chinese cast, the main characters, American Chinese immigrants, speaking fluent English and understandably clumsy Chinese, and the rest, speaking native Chinese throughout. Critics said it's one of the best films of the year, but I feel like it's not much better than 'Crazy Rich Asians' where a bunch of Bananas are introduced to entertain but I don't find it entertaining at all.

In case you're curious, here's the story in a nutshell. Nai Nai (grandmother) is dying of lung cancer in China. The family living in Japan and America are going to go back to China to throw a wedding party as an excuse for them to come together to pay Nai Nai one last visit, the so called Farewell instead, since they decide not to tell her the truth with the intention of protecting her from unnecessary grievances, worries or agonies over death itself. 'The Farewell' is supposed to be poignant because it's about someone beloved passing away but it's not quite. The family have to hide their true emotions and act like they came for the wedding, not to say goodbye to their Nai Nai. It's nonetheless, not something completely hilarious like a comedy either , as I know deep down they all feel very frustrated and heart-wrenched. 'The Farewell' is sad but not sad, even though it touches the theme of life and death! That's how it makes me feel. That's why it's more worth a checkout compared with 'Crazy Rich Asians'. You got to see it to feel 'such special strangeness' indeed.

The film does raise some cultural issues or conflicts between the East and the West, like typically this time different attitudes towards death itself and the individual facing it. Chinese consider life as part of a whole, while the West regard it the opposite as they uphold individual's rights and freedom to know anything of their interest. 'The West' think Nai Nai deserves to know what's happening to her and decide for herself what to do next, while 'the East' think it's better not to tell her because it's a good lie, and also their responsibility to share Nai Nai's burden and pain of facing death! I don't know which thinking holds most grounds under such circumstances, but Nai Nai's surely right about one thing: life's not about what you do. It's all about how you do it!