The Farewell

Let's talk Aguachile Alley

Postby evan » Sun Jul 14, 2019 1:52 am



It got me. It did. What a beautifully directed, unembellished family drama. I can't remember being consistently perched at the edge of tears for that long in a movie recently.

Also, that's probably the single best twist I've ever seen in a tearjerker.Toggle Spoiler
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Postby unscrambled » Sat Aug 17, 2019 3:38 pm

saw it last night - unembellished is a really good word for it, i did really appreciate that aspect of it. i feel like it also did convey that claustrophobia that comes with nonstop family interaction like this. all the acting was soooooo good. i really really wanted to cry tho and didn't lol, but that's o-kay.
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Postby ghostguts » Sat Aug 17, 2019 4:04 pm

Saw this and have been recommending it to my friends -- both asian and non-asian (I am asian). Not surprisingly a lot easier to convince my asian friends to do so. Even so, there's a lot of universality in storytelling and crafting technique that will appeal to people who like to dork out about films. Kind of interesting to see the mixed tones of humor and sadness and in certain audiences there being a split between people who laugh and get silent (sad) -- the reveal of the acupuncture burns is one of those scenes, for example.
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Postby unscrambled » Sat Aug 17, 2019 4:07 pm

could you expand on that? i kinda forgot what the my particular showings' audience reaction was to the burns
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Postby unscrambled » Sat Aug 17, 2019 4:10 pm

woah lulu wang and barry jenkins are together :shock:

from her wiki: an interview with the publication, she described her next project as “very grounded science fiction.” woah i can't wait. gonna check out her this american life episode soon.
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Postby ghostguts » Sat Aug 17, 2019 4:15 pm

So that scene was the ending of an act that showed some of the mental burden of being a Chinese woman -- the squabbling in the restaurant with the moms going at it, the scene with her and her auntie talking about how it's not something for them to tell Grandma and auntie being callous about it but saying "ouch that hurts" when she get a massage on her feet and the masseuse saying "you must be holding onto a lot of stress" or something to that effect, etc. IMO, the burns that she reveals was kind of showing the hidden emotional burden that a lot of Chinese women have to deal with, but also can be seen as the emotional burden of the situation at hand (i.e. the familial lie).

I went and saw the movie a couple of different times -- one during opening night where there was an audible gasp with some tempered laughs of how visually comical it looks, whereas another time (couple of weeks later) it was just all laughs based on some level of discomfort and visual comedy imo. Either way, I think there's a sort of tandem of being confused of when to laugh and when to feel pain or cry during a lot of this movie (Hao Hao looking like he's about to throwup but actually breaking down emotionally at his wedding is another good audience reaction scene).
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Postby unscrambled » Sat Aug 17, 2019 4:21 pm

oh wow, yeah i did not make that connection to the burden with the burns - that's amazing. and yeah i was totally expecting us to see some vomit during that scene w/Hao Hao. I loved the acting/presence of Hao Hao and it felt pretty realistic/rewarding how we didn't necessarily need to know his explicit thoughts regarding the situation, what his relationship to Nai Nai was, etc.

god that scene with at the restaurant with the squabbling was so good. it was all so good.
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Postby That Demon Life » Sat Aug 17, 2019 4:21 pm

Seeing it tomorrow with my gf.

Shes Taiwanese. Not that that matters, but I've been to many similar family functions. Haha.
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Postby gucci man » Sat Aug 17, 2019 9:56 pm

Just got out of this 3/5 - save it for streaming.
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Postby saranclaps ultra mode 9000 » Sat Aug 17, 2019 10:03 pm

good movie. hope more ppl see it.

really surprised to learn lulu wang made an artworld satire before this.
delgriffith wrote:Quick Google search reveals that I have no idea what I'm talking about.
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Postby jefe górgory » Sat Aug 17, 2019 10:15 pm

Really liked this movie. And appreciate your posts ghostguts. I’m a white dude and the closest I come to relating to it on a cultural level was awkwafina’s jokes about nyc but I just lost one of my grandmothers and so a lot of that really rang true for me. Scrambled I think your post about the claustrophobia of having to spend days and days with family members who are all going through the same thing but all feeling different things and not knowing how to relate is well said. I also just thought this movie was funny and heartbreaking and idk I liked it so much and I’m glad movies like it are being made!
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Postby patchperfect » Sat Aug 17, 2019 11:08 pm

i saw this at Sundance earlier this year and my Lyft driver got lost, so i was late to the screening and the only seat they had left for me was up in the balcony

5 minutes after the movie started, Lulu Wang came up to the balcony and sat right beside me for the entire screening :shock: :shock: :shock:

i cried through much of the last third (as did most of the audience, including Lulu) and she thanked me for coming to see her film as we were leaving

great fucking movie
Yo I heard his dad took all the money from the HMO like some kind of Drackela.
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Postby shirts optional » Sat Aug 17, 2019 11:24 pm

just a good ass flick

if you're on the fence, go ahead
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Postby deadwolfbones » Sat Aug 17, 2019 11:50 pm

Gonna see this next week
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Postby unscrambled » Sun Aug 18, 2019 1:38 am

patchperfect wrote:i saw this at Sundance earlier this year and my Lyft driver got lost, so i was late to the screening and the only seat they had left for me was up in the balcony

5 minutes after the movie started, Lulu Wang came up to the balcony and sat right beside me for the entire screening :shock: :shock: :shock:

i cried through much of the last third (as did most of the audience, including Lulu) and she thanked me for coming to see her film as we were leaving

great fucking movie


:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :ryan: :ryan: :ryan: :ryan:

that's a fucking memory
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Postby Lowercase Tea » Sun Aug 18, 2019 10:08 am

Just really love the way all of this was shot. The photo shoot was just so incredibly well done.
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Postby wakeman » Sun Aug 18, 2019 11:09 am

Pretty cool the two friends got Lulu on the newest ep
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Postby No Good Advice » Sun Aug 18, 2019 11:50 am

wakeman wrote:Pretty cool the two friends got Lulu on the newest ep


woah
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Postby unscrambled » Mon Aug 19, 2019 9:55 am

Lowercase Tea wrote:Just really love the way all of this was shot. The photo shoot was just so incredibly well done.


wait yes i totally forgot about how genius that entire sequence was.

this movie has grown on me really quickly and rapidly the more i think about it.
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Postby Lowercase Tea » Mon Aug 19, 2019 11:06 am

Oh yeah, this movie really benefits from rewatches. It's amazing how much work has been put into every scene.
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Postby deadbass » Mon Aug 19, 2019 11:36 am

this movie is really lovely.
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Postby deadwolfbones » Tue Aug 20, 2019 2:07 pm

Yeah, really liked this. Photo shoot and the conversation with her and her dad at the spa were great.
dead was real dumb
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Postby deadwolfbones » Tue Aug 20, 2019 2:10 pm

ghostguts, when you said "actupuncture burns" did you mean the cupping?
dead was real dumb
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Postby blurst of times » Tue Aug 20, 2019 3:00 pm

patchperfect wrote:i saw this at Sundance earlier this year and my Lyft driver got lost, so i was late to the screening and the only seat they had left for me was up in the balcony

5 minutes after the movie started, Lulu Wang came up to the balcony and sat right beside me for the entire screening :shock: :shock: :shock:

i cried through much of the last third (as did most of the audience, including Lulu) and she thanked me for coming to see her film as we were leaving

great fucking movie


:shock: holy shit dude, that's amazing. (also whoa, i had no idea she was dating barry jenkins!)

this is now the third thread i've posted about this movie in (lol), but yeah it ruled.
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Postby Ersaph » Tue Aug 20, 2019 4:24 pm

This was fine. Boring, cute. But the very very ending where you find out the grandma didn't die sapped all the emotional charge from it for me.Toggle Spoiler
And I feel like this year is really about, just the year of realizing stuff.
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Postby separator » Tue Aug 20, 2019 4:28 pm

great movie
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Postby delgriffith » Tue Aug 20, 2019 4:33 pm

Ersaph wrote:This was fine. Boring, cute. But the very very ending where you find out the grandma didn't die sapped all the emotional charge from it for me.Toggle Spoiler

Lulu Wang's grandmother surviving doesn't mean Billi's did :ugeek:Toggle Spoiler
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Postby delgriffith » Tue Aug 20, 2019 4:35 pm

I do of course get what you mean though, and I kinda wish that reveal came a minute into the credits or somethingToggle Spoiler
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Postby deadbass » Tue Aug 20, 2019 4:48 pm

It's sort of a peculiar thing to end the film with, even if I understand why she included it. Also, it... uh... probably won't continue to be true in a few years.Toggle Spoiler
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Postby delgriffith » Tue Aug 20, 2019 5:32 pm

delgriffith wrote:I do of course get what you mean though, and I kinda wish that reveal came a minute into the credits or somethingToggle Spoiler

Now I am just kind of dumbly imagining a really dramatic Marvel end credits reveal of nai nai still livingToggle Spoiler
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