Lulu Wang, who wrote and directed “The Farewell”, has drawn on an episode from her own life
WHEN BILLI , an underemployed artist living in Brooklyn, learns that her grandmother Nai Nai has terminal cancer, she books a flight to China to join her extended family and pay her final respects. When she arrives, she is burdened with a secret: Nai Nai is not aware of her prognosis. Chinese tradition dictates that it be kept from her until her final days, the idea being that the fear of dying hastens an individual’s demise.
Its aesthetic approach similarly straddles two worlds. With its sparse set design, natural lighting and infrequent camera movements, it finds common ground between American independent cinema and that of Asian naturalists such as Hirokazu Kore-eda and the late Edward Yang , both of whom chronicle middle-class life and generational conflict in contemporary Asia.
It is also a turn towards much more serious fare for the actor, who made her name in comic roles in “Ocean’s 8” and “Crazy Rich Asians” . In “The Farewell” there are still some glimpses of her skill as a comedian. Having been instructed by Nai Nai to look happier at her cousin’s wedding, she plasters a big grin on her face and bows with extravagant enthusiasm to all her distant relatives. But Awkwafina does not reach for big laughs throughout.
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