MOVIE PREVIEWS
THE FAREWELL
Rated: PG
Release Date: 07/26/2019
Production Company: A24 Productions

Cast:
Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin, Zhao Shuzhen, Lu Hong and Jiang Yongbo.

Crew:
Director: LuLu Wang. Producers: Dan Balgoyen, Joshua M. Cohen, Anita Gou, Daniele Tata Melia, Andrew Miano, Peter Saraf, Mark Turtletaub, Chriss Weitz, Jane Zheng. Executive Producer: Eddie Rubin. Screenwriter: LuLu Wang. Cinematographer: Anna Franquesa Solano.
Plot:
By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs

Not many specialty/indie movies are making as big a splash this summer like ?The Farewell,? the new dramedy from director/screenwriter and co-producer Lulu Wang.

Although the Chinese-born American writer/filmmaker made her directorial debut with the 2014 feature film ?Posthumous? starring Jack Huston and Brit Marling, ?The Farewell??which wowed audiences and critics at this year?s Sundance Film Festival?has Wang enjoying her moment in the spotlight.

?The Farewell? is also Wang?s most personal movie as it tells about her growing up with her Chinese immigrant family. It?s a true story, but as noted in the film?s opening credits, ?The Farewell? is also ?based on an actual lie.?

Korean and Chinese actress/rapper Nora Lum, aka Awkwafina, who nearly stole the show in ?Crazy Rich Asians? and ?Ocean?s 8,? is pitch perfect once again. This time she deftly balances drama and comedy.

Awkwafina stars as Billi, a struggling writer from Brooklyn trying to mask her pain and anger when she receives a rejection letter for a Guggenheim Fellowship. Her life really starts to unravel when her mother Jian (Diana Lin, TV?s ?The Family Law?) and father, Haiyan (Tzi Ma, ?Skyscraper?/upcoming ?Mulan?) informs Billi that her grandmother Nai Nai (Zhao Shuzhen), who lives in China, is dying of cancer.

Here?s the thing. The entire family has made a pact not to tell the elderly matriarch Nai Nai that she?s dying.

They want to spend their time with her being happy and not burdening and scaring her with the devastating news.

So, the plan is to pretend that Billi?s cousin Hao Hao (Chen Han) and his girlfriend Aiko (Aoi Mizuhara), who he barely knows, are getting married.

The families go all out to arrange this fake wedding in China. Everyone must be on board with the secret. For the most part everyone is initially except Billi.

For Billi, this isn?t some little secret or white lie. This is a big deal. It?s literally life and death. The thought of seeing her grandmother thinking she?s doing fine when she really isn?t, is hard for Billi to handle.

The family goes all in and even alters medical reports and the like to make this whole thing play out like they want.

Billi?s mother tries to persuade her that telling the truth isn?t always the kindest way. She says the news will only upset Nai Nai and there?s nothing she could do about it anyway. ?It?s not the cancer that kills her,? she says to Billi. ?It?s the fear.?

Even the family doctor agrees this is a ?good lie.? Billi hates it, but eventually agrees with the elaborate ruse.

The joy of ?The Farewell? comes with watching this terrific cast convincingly wrestle pain, fear, guilt, love and laughter from Lulu Wang?s heartfelt and dynamic story.

"The Farewell" is a real gem.

Editor's Note: Be sure to catch my N2Entertainment.net movie talk segment on the Kitty O'Neal Show Fridays now at 6:20 p.m. on radio station KFBK 1530 AM and 93.1 FM.

Check Out This Trailer "THE FAREWELL"

Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics? Association (BFCA), The Black Film Critics Circle (BFCC), The Alliance Of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.


OLD SCHOOL VIDEO PICK OF THE MONTH

<b>MAHOGANY</b> Title: MAHOGANY
Year Released: 1975
Running Time: 109
Production Company: Paramount Pictures
Director: Berry Gordy, Tony Richardson and Jack Wormser
Director of Photography: David Watkin
Screenwriter: John Byrum and Toni Amber
Author: Lana K. Wilson-Combs

REVIEW: DIANA ROSS AND BILLY DEE WILLIAMS DAZZLE IN "MAHOGANY"

Do you know where you're going to?
Do you like the things that life is showing you? Where are you going to?
Do you know?
Do you get what you're hoping for? When you look behind you, there's no open doors. What are you hoping for? Do you know? "Theme from Mahogany...
  MOVIE TRIVIA
 
The "Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" was sung by Diana Ross in the 1975 movie "Mahogany." But, who initially recorded the song in 1973?
"Roberta Flack"
"Natalie Cole"
"Deniece Williams"
"Thelma Houston"