The Farewell

Released in 2019 to critical acclaim, The Farewell tells the story of Billi, who – along with the rest of her family – struggles with the news of her grandmother’s cancer diagnosis. Based on director Lulu Wang’s relationship with her own grandmother, the film was accompanied by the amusing tagline: ‘Based on an actual lie’. Here, Wang effectively explores the tensions brought on by lies, language, and familial distance through the conceit of a single family. Yet what may sound narratively and thematically heavy is nevertheless a consistently warm and consoling watch. Driven by the excellent chemistry of Awkwafina and Zhao Shu-zhen, The Farewell balances gentle comedy alongside its mature emotional core, as matched visually by Wang’s softer choice of colour palette. While Term 3 at the University of Warwick is haunted by numerous academic pressures, there is no better film than The Farewell to reset and relax to.

Sam Ripley