Then Wangs relatives fast-tracked a cousins planned wedding as an excuse for everyone to visit the elderly matriarch one last time. Movies based on true stories always feature a degree of creative license. The Farewell's release in China was recently delayed, which Variety suggested could be due to the film's likelihood of winning upcoming major American movie awards and potentially boosting its potential success in China. But at the same time, when I talked to her like we might shoot in a neighboring town she was like, 'What the hell, you're going to come back in town and shoot a movie and not even do it here? It is ironic that films only get made now if they exist in another medium, added Weitz. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. "[27] Christy Lemire writing for RogerEbert.com gave the film 4 out of 4 stars, saying Zhao Shuzhen is "the most frequent source of laughs", but went on to say that "as delightful as [Zhao] is in this crucial, central role, she will also quietly rip your heart out by the film's end". 2023 Rolling Stone, LLC. And her friend saw a review of it and was so proud of her, one of her longest friends, and sent it to her.. But for me, going back and having agency allowed me to see the city as an adult. Guilt-ridden, Billi expresses conflicted thoughts with her parents over the Chinese cultural beliefs that result in a family refusing to disclose a life-threatening disease. At the 77th Golden Globe Awards the film was nominated for two awards including Best Foreign Language Film, with Awkwafina winning for Best Actress Musical or Comedy. "[25] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 89 out of 100 based on 47 critic reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Lulu Wang's new film -- one of the best of the year -- is based on her own family's story, an "actual lie," as the opening suggests. After receiving a rejection letter for a Guggenheim Fellowship, Billi discovers from her parents, Haiyan and Jian, that Nai Nai has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, and is predicted to have only a few months left to live. Wang's own "Nai Nai," or grandmother in Chinese, was diagnosed with cancer and her family decided to keep the diagnosis from her. Dramatic Competition section at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival[4] and was theatrically released in the United States on July 12, 2019, by A24. The Farewell became 2019's little indie movie that could, earning acclaim out of the gate at Sundance last January and going on to garner awards buzz for its phenomenal cast and, last night, a Golden Globe award for breakout starAwkwafina, who made history as the first Asian actress to win Best Actress at the Golden Globes. And so she said to little Nai Nai, her sister, who plays herself in the movie, she said, I just thought that you were really daft, because you went and shot a movie, you went to the premiere in New York, and you come back and you cant tell me anything about it. The events dramatized in the movie happened to Wang in 2013. Chinese or American audiences? Journey deeper into the true story behind The Farewell by watching an interview with writer/director Lulu Wang, whose family's story provided the basis for the movie. Lulu Wang's "The Farewell" may have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival almost 10 months ago and arrived in theaters in the U.S. this past summer, but one of its breakout stars somehow . But look, it says in the newspaper its called Dont Tell Her, and thats why you didnt tell me, because I am the her of the dont tell her., But we havent talked about it, so Ill see what happens when I see her.. On the other side of the world, birds scatter from a tree near Nai Nai's apartment complex. I went to bars -- I never went to bars as a 6 year old, obviously. In a Slate interview, director Lulu Wang revealed that The Farewell led to her own grandmother discovering she had cancer. Spend more than a few minutes in Wangs company, and you realize that she has zero interest in anything even close to pandering. "I just didn't want to make any compromises on this particular story," she said, emphasizing that her goal was to make the film as authentic as it could be. Then she made a movie about it so it went through the entire history of our family, and my grandma read it. She understood the cultural balancing act of being viewed as primarily Chinese in America and primarily American in China. "It's hard to say," says Wang, "because I know other people who've made similar decisions and they have a lot of regret or they still feel like the person deserved to know" (People). just like Nai Nai taught her. There are things that we don't see that are in motion that dictate our lives that we are not in control of.". When Nai Nai visited the set, everyone still had to continue the lie; Wang told theTimes that Nai Nai thought that the movie was loosely based on our family, with everybody coming back to China for a wedding., Wangfinished the movie and premiered it at the Sundance Film Festival to enormous acclaim. When we met on a late spring day in Los Angeles, Wang pulled up to the cafe on a mini Segway, embodying millennial chic in an oversized navy suit and bright yellow Vans. Yes. It's something that Wang wonders. When Wang's grandmother was diagnosed with cancer, her family . At the end of the film, Billi returns to New York. "They wanted it to be my big, fat Chinese wedding," says Wang of her Sundance smash The Farewell, starring Awkwafina. The 36-year-old director who came to the U.S. as a child in 1990; she grew up in Miami but now lives in Santa Monica had . Right after I found out I had gotten in to Sundance, she notes, I was with my same friend at the same restaurant. To spare Nai Nai from the stress of knowing her condition, the family flies to China and stages an elaborate fake wedding in order to see her one last time. 15 years later, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Emma Stone, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bill Hader, and more remember making their seminal teen comedy. It wasn't just that she could now frequent bars; she had a newfound agency. ", "Gotham Awards: 'Marriage Story,' 'The Farewell,' 'Uncut Gems' Lead Nominations", "Lulu Wang's 'The Farewell' wins Sundance London 2019 audience award", "#RomaFF14 | "Santa subito" di Alessandro Piva vince il "Premio del Pubblico BNL", "NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW ANNOUNCES 2019 AWARD WINNERS", "Artios Awards: 'Hustlers,' 'Knives Out,' 'Rocketman' Among Casting Society Film Nominees", "The 3rd Annual Hollywood Critics Association Awards Nominations", "The 2019 Detroit Film Critics Society Awards Nominations", "2019 San Diego Film Critics Society's Award Nominations", "2019 Atlanta Film Festival Award Winners", "This year's Seminci Golden Spike is bound for Mongolia", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Farewell_(2019_film)&oldid=1149341986, Lu Hong (playing herself) as Little Nai Nai, Billi's grandmother's younger sister, This page was last edited on 11 April 2023, at 16:34. There was no fear while we were there. Prior to making the movie, writer/director Lulu Wang told the story of her family's little white lie in an April 2016 episode of the. -This American Life, All of the doctors predicted that Lulu Wang's Nai Nai had three months left to live after the stage 4 lung cancer diagnosis in 2013. 2023 Cond Nast. Written and directed by the Chinese filmmaker, The Farewell casts rapper-turned-actress Awkwafina in her first leading role as Billi, a Chinese-American student playing a form of Wang herself. Fearing Billi will end up exposing the lie to her grandmother, Haiyan and Jian tell her to remain in New York City. As much as The Farewell is about confronting loss, it's also distinctly about place. Though much ofThe Farewellgrapples with mortality, the point of Wang's piece is not what happens to Nai Nai, even though it's nice to know there's a happy ending. "There's a spiritual connection or energetic -- spiritual maybe sounds too whoop-dee-doo. In a Slate interview, director Lulu Wang revealed thatThe Farewell led to her own grandmother discovering she had cancer. I knew right away I wanted to do it as a movie, says Wang, over the phone from her home in Los Angeles ahead of the films Scottish premiere at this years Glasgow Youth Film Festival. Hed seen her movie, loved her voice, was interested in working with her on something. So I feel like in a way, I now have an adult relationship with China, with the city.". However, the true story behind The Farewell revealed that Lulu Wang's grandma was still alive when the movie was released in 2019. Who else can I talk to about this, Lulu? [11] However, she added that her main source of inspiration came from "spending time with Lulu's family at their home in Changchun, during pre-production. The family, however, told Nai Nai that she was just fine, that the doctor had given her a clean bill of health. [19] It continued to expand in the following weeks, making $2.4 million from 426 theaters and then $2.2 million from 705 theaters. Id also come to accept that it wasnt my decision; it was my familys decision. You cant tell me the title. Wang first told the story on an April 2016 episode of This American Life, which piqued the interest of various producers, allowing her to make the movie. I heard this extraordinary true story, this beautiful complete story. Things went smoothly as they made the festival circuit, because "it's an American festival, so it's never going to leave the country, and your grandma doesn't go on the internet, she doesn't read English, so it's fine.". The Farewell is a bilingual film in English and Mandarin Chinese. I thought I might as well give it a try, said Weitz, who was drawn to the conundrum at the center of the film, the notion that lying to a loved one can actually be a good thing. They just want to put me in this box, andunless I can do this kind of storytelling, its not worth it for me to do all that.. (Wang toldThe New York Timesno one was too concerned about Nai Nai finding out the truth fromThis American Life, explaining They thought it was this niche thing. The Farewell, Wangs dramedy about her experience, turns her misadventure into a funny, bittersweet story about a Chinese-American woman named Billi (Crazy Rich Asians Awkwafina) caught between maintaining a shiny, happy deception and the painful process of saying goodbye to a loved one. "She gave me gifts and treated me like family and was so energetic and so full of life that you could not tell she has any kind of illness, period.". Starring Awkwafina as a struggling writer in New York and based on a "true lie" from Wang's life, the film tells the story of a Chinese-American family that, upon learning their grandmother has cancer, decides not to tell her and instead stages a mock . In the film, the Chinese American woman played by Awkwafina, battles with her family . One night, her uncle, Haibin, contends that the lie allows the family to bear the emotional burden of the diagnosis, rather than Nai Nai herselfa practice of collectivism that Haibin acknowledges differs from the individualistic values common in Western culture. The Farewell was a huge hit at Sundance, sparking a bidding war that ended with Wang turning down an additional $8 million from a streaming service to tie her wagon to A24, the film company behind Moonlight and Lady Bird. "Whether or not we will keep the secret is up in the air, because we want to show her the movie," the director recently told IndieWire. The Farewell opens with a title card declaring that the film is "based on an actual lie" from director Lulu Wang's own life. Hong became the de facto authority for her fellow performers on whether the interactions of the screen family felt like the real thing; she and Shuzhen began hanging out together off-set a lot and, according to Lulu, started calling each other sister. The director had made good on the promise to shoot The Farewell in her still-living grandmothers hometown of Chungchun, ensuring that a high level of authenticity would be built in to the story. When they suggested her, the first thought I had was, Guys, I thought we were on the same page here. I dont think shed done Oceans 8. Throughout the movie, she struggles to navigate between her conscience and her family's whims once she finds out that her beloved grandmother - or Nai . It stars Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin, and Zhao Shuzhen. He asked, You just did this amazing thing, so why are you upset? And I just said, I dont know if Im ever going to feel like this making films now. There was such a purity to it and I felt such power as a storyteller that I thought, maybe I should quit the film business and just work for these guys. Then the story aired, and everything changed. I knew I had to make this film for me and anyone else who may be understood me, she said. Her family threw a fake wedding for her cousin from Japan and her grandmother didnt know. Released in July, The Farewell centers on a family telling a big lie in order to keep an even bigger secret. Lulu Wang RUBEN V. NEPALES LOS ANGELESWriter-director Lulu Wang has quite a dilemma. Lulus very-much-alive grandmother still didnt know about her cancer diagnosis. The Farewell (Chinese: ; pinyin: Bi Gos T; lit. Billi keeps her promise to maintain the lie. Wang's crew would even stop in her grandmother's apartment for bathroom breaks while scouting locations around the neighborhood. The whole purpose of the lie was to bring joy, she adds. Her grandmother, nicknamed Nai Nai, who today, at 86, is still alive, welcomed the visit, still in the dark about the real premise of the film. The night it aired, Wangs friend took her to a sushi bar to celebrate. ', It turned out, however, that, like Wang, Lum had been partially raised by her Chinese grandmother. Released in July, The Farewell centers on a family telling a big lie in order to keep an even bigger secret. Rather than revealing the news directly to Wang's 80-year-old grandmother, doctors instead told her grandmother's sister (Wang's Great-Aunt Hong Lu) the news, who passed it along to the family. Yes. is nai nai from the farewell still alive. 3 Is Yet Another Big Marvel Movie Misstep, Rachel Weisz Doubles Down in Dead Ringers, To Love Tupac Was to Fight With Tupac: Why Allen Hughes Needed to Make Dear Mama, Academy Slaps Down New Rules After Andrea Riseborough, Tom Cruise, Michelle Yeoh Controversies, Here's Where to Watch 'Scream 6' (and All the 'Scream' Movies) Online, Ryan Murphy Sets Sights on Menndez Brothers for 'Monster' Season 2, White House Plumbers Gives Watergate the Veep Treatment and Misses Big, Roy Wood Jr. -People. Every time I finish a film, its kind of depressing because you're kind of at the end but kind of at the beginning again, and youre just excited but also unsure, she said. Instead, it was from marching across China when she was in the army. "When it played a the premiere everyone was like, [gasping noise]," she says. Copyright 2023 HistoryvsHollywood.com, CTF Media. Shes like, Well just tell her that movies are fiction and none of it actually happened. The filmcloses with an even more shocking title card: Six years after her diagnosis,Wangs real Nai Nai is still alive. Well send you our daily roundup of all our favorite stories from across the site, from travel to food to shopping to entertainment. Walking down a busy street, she stops and thrusts her arms outward giving a loud, energy-expelling "HA!" With Shuzhen Zhao, Awkwafina, X Mayo, Hong Lu. Its bringing excitement to the neighborhood, the city, my family. Is that the question? But while Wang's family's story has been broadcast on This American Life and on theater screens nationwide, The Farewell still hasn't hit China, and per IndieWire, the real Nai Naiwho is still alive despite the three-month prognosis given to her in 2013still hasn't seen it nor been told what exactly the movie is all about, though she does know it's "loosely based" on the family. And then This American Life came calling.
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