Justice For: ‘The Farewell’
Welcome to ‘Justice For’ a short series I will be doing here on Middle of the Barrel of which I will revisit a few wonderful movies from 2019 and talk about Oscar snubs and whether or not those snubs will hurt these films in the long run
To say that The Farewell was overlooked feels like a bit of a lie. The film was wildly successful from the get go, critically acclaimed, and had awards buzz going into Oscar season thanks to Awkwafina’s incredible charisma coupled with her candor and emotional resonance. And yet, here we are talking about why one of the best movies of the year was overlooked in every category. Let’s kick this off by examining what it might be about The Farewell that has caused it to not even be invited to The Oscars table.
Lulu Wang’s second film is an introduction to a filmmaker that will continue to make moving stories that are full of style, and yet when you put it under the microscope, it isn’t hard to see why it would get snubbed. The first is that it isn’t a foreign language film, it is a duel language film, and while that is perfectly suited to the identity of the film, a story of an adult who immigrated at a young age who mostly interfaces with their home country through phone calls and visits every handful of years, it mostly likely doesn’t sit firmly into a category like a mostly white and mostly old voting body would want it to. The Farwell also fits into a category of “family drama with large stakes, but there aren’t any huge fights and it maintains its humor the whole time” and the Oscars don’t respond well to films like that. Again, this is part of the genius of this film. In the hands of another filmmaker who had just happened to hear this story on ‘This American Life’, there would be blow ups and freak outs and Billi would tell her grandmother everything and all the western viewers would feel like this was justice. But Lulu Wang lived this, she knows what it feels like, she thought about the merit of telling Nai Nai versus letting her live and celebrate life. She knows that despite being in emotional turmoil, there were plenty of moments where you can’t help but laugh at yourself, your family, or your grandmother’s second husband who is a bit of album. This makes for a beautiful film that resonates with many, but the Oscars is made up of a voting body that has stuck to a trend for the last 92 years.
Despite all the reasons it doesn’t fit the mold, I am here to talk about what makes this movie incredible and why it should’ve received more recognition. First and foremost, this is an incredible screenplay; Lulu Wang’s screenplay is so well written and carries the film. The events of the film, attention to certain details, and the dialogue all come together to present this beautiful story that is rife with themes of growing up, family dynamics, an immigrant’s experience, and growing up in a western culture while the rest of your family grew up in the east. Additionally, this is one of the best collections of acting performances I saw this year, though I want to give specific credit to Awkwafina playing the protagonist, Billi, and Zhao Shuzhen playing Nai Nai, the grandmother and matriarch of the family. Awkwafina is so perfectly emotive, you could remove all of her dialogue from the film and you wouldn’t miss out on what she is thinking and feeling, in fact, her mother in the film references this by saying “you can’t hide your emotions” and that makes her the perfect audience avatar. Whether you agree with Billi’s family or not, when she feels something, you feel it, the things she says or doesn’t say feel thought out, like someone wrestling with revealing a dark secret or not, much like any normal human would. When most films based on the true story of a family drama would have these shoehorned in monologues where the main character makes all the right points and no one has a real response, so often Billi will express her feelings and her families response is logical and comes from the same motivation, let Nai Nai have an enjoyable end to her life. Speaking of which, Zhao Shuzhen is perfect. I’ve made mention of how real these people all feel, and Shuzhen is the prime example. She is witty, kind, funny, and an outspoken proponent for tai chi. She has her monologue moments, but all grandparents do, they poke fun at you, express how much they care, and give you a story with a lesson about appreciating things. Her ignorance of her own health is crushing, as she walks through life trying to plan a wedding, deal with her buffoonish and deaf second husband, and make sure her grandchildren eat enough and are happy, you feel the weight of knowing that her life is soon coming to a close.
2019 was the best movie year of the decade, and in the top three since 2000, so in an awards season with so many glaring omissions, I feel like we’ll look back on so many of these films fondly and celebrate them for years to come, even over films that received academy recognition. I’m reminded of David Fincher’s Zodiac, a film released far too early into 2007 that fell into obscurity for academy voters by the time Oscar season rolled around, and yet it is celebrated among all the classics released that year. The Farewell is a moving and funny family drama made by a filmmaker we will hear from for a long time, so I don’t think a lack of Oscar recognition will get in the way of people seeing it for themselves and revisiting it 15 years down the line when Lulu Wang is finally nominated for Best Director or something. If you haven’t seen The Farewell, seek it out. Buy it on a streaming service and watch it a thousand times and cry and laugh and show it to people you love. Thanks for reading, next time on ‘Justice For’ I’ll be talking about Trey Edward Shults’ brilliant coming-of-age family drama, Waves.