SEPTEMBER 14 2019 LISTENER 57
director Lulu Wang is autobiographical
and, as the opening titles say, “Based on
an actual lie”. The story is inspired by her
own grandmother’s terminal-cancer diag-
nosis. In China, the rules about patients
being fully informed of their medical
status are rather different than in the
West, and the family decided not to tell
Wang’s grandmother the bad news.
In her movie, Wang is represented by
Billi, a struggling New York writer who has
maintained a close relationship with Nai
Nai, having lived with her in China before
she and her parents emigrated to the US.
She’s played by rapper-comedian
Awkwafina, the motormouth scene-stealer
from Crazy Rich Asians and Ocean’s 8. Here,
she meets the movie on its own subtle,
subdued level. It’s a lovely, restrained
performance that, when it shares the
screen with Zhao Shuzhen as her proud,
loving fusspot of a grandmother, becomes
the genuine heart of the film.
Told not to come to China to attend a
cousin’s hastily arranged wedding, which
is doubling as family reunion, Billi maxes
out her credit card to follow her parents
to Changchun. Once there, the extended
clan worry that her unrepressed American
side will tell Nai Nai the truth. “It’s our job
to carry this emotional burden for her,”
her uncle tells her.
The wedding becomes Nai Nai’s purpose
in life, although there’s something amiss
about Billi’s mostly silent groom-to-be
cousin, Hao Hao (Chen Han), and his
equally mute Japanese fiancée, Aiko
(Aoi Mizuhara). As the banquet and its
emotional, drunken speeches deliver
opportunities for the ruse to fall apart, The
Farewell keeps its composure. It’s a movie
that is impressive for what it doesn’t do. It
doesn’t turn into a culture-clash comedy
between the returning migrants and
Chinese-resident parts of the family. There
is, however, a tense discussion, inevitably
around yet another lavish meal, about
immigration, educational opportuni-
ties and loyalty to China that feels like
eavesdropping on a conversation probably
being had by millions.
And neither does it turn into a sen-
timental deathbed melodrama. Wang
does add a real-life coda that breaks the
melancholy spell of the movie’s ending, a
little. The only other artifice in the whole
movie is the music, especially a bluesy
cover of Leonard Cohen’s Come Healing
and a Chinese version of the Harry Nilsson
heartbreaker Without You to go out on.
But even they help make this a poignant
love letter to the grandparent-grandchild
relationship. That tribute might be played
out against a culturally specific background,
but the authenticity makes The Farewell all
the more resonant and enjoyable.
IN CINEMAS NOW
Russell Bailliesympathy.
Stenders seems more interested
in grossly stylising the deaths of the
Vietnamese troops, anyway. With a dark
kind of glee, he films hundreds of bodies
being perforated, mangled, blown up and,
for that extra sense of insult, cartwheeling
through the air in slow motion.
In any other setting, a people
defending their homeland from foreign
invaders would be seen as hardy battlers,
but here they are nothing more than a
primitive, faceless, screaming horde to
be gleefully pulverised. Boisterous flag
waving is one thing, but the kind of
dehumanisation on display in Danger
Close is reprehensible.
One wonders if the families of the men
who fought – or anyone else for that
matter – would be impressed with a film
that so shamelessly ignores complexity
and context.
IN CINEMAS NOW
James RobinsAMAZING GRACE
directed by Sydney Pollack and Alan ElliottT
his long-shelved concert film
captures Aretha Franklin in full
spine-tingling spiritual flight at a Los
Angeles Baptist church over two nights
in 1972. The performances generated
her mega-selling live gospel album of the
same name. The story of how the movie
didn’t eventuate back then is a movie-biz
drama in itself (see the July 20 Listener),
but the film rises far above just being a
posthumous cash-in, especially when
Franklin heads to the pulpit to turn the
title track into a 10-minute epic, or when
she performs Marvin Gaye’s Wholy Holy
or Carole King’s You’ve Got a Friend on
the piano. The handheld 16mm footage,
filmed under bright lights, does make it
look of its period – as do the abundant
afros in the congregation and choir stalls.
But seeing Franklin sing unto the Lord is
timeless.
IN CINEMAS NOWA PERFECT 10
directed by Luke MellowsI
n its study of Dan Carter, A Perfect
10 does have some advantages over
Chasing Great, the 2016 rugger-
mentary about Richie McCaw. Carter ran
more, kicked more and scored more than
anyone. He sold more undies, too. The
game footage of Carter at his best makes
this a veritable action movie compared
with McCaw’s equally hagiographic
doco, which was more a portrait of
grim determination and leadership.
The trouble is, there’s neither a strong
story arc nor an apparent compelling
reason behind this look at Carter, who
is now playing out his twilight years in
Japan. Yes, the man himself does talk,
slightly candidly, about his spectacular
rise and the anguish behind the injuries
at crucial points in his All Blacks’ career.
But, if anything, this talking-head-fest
undersells Carter’s impact in his time at
the top, and it feels as if it has taken an
hour of television material and stretched
it into extra time.
IN CINEMAS NOW
Russell BaillieFilms are rated out of 5:
(abysmal) to (amazing)SHORT TAKES
Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan: ignores
complexity and context.