Review of The Farewell (2019) by The3Academysins — 23 Aug 2019

The Farewell is the latest offering from A24, and this studio continues to impress me. The Farewell is a touching story of death and family. It reminds me a lot of The Royal Tenenbaums in the sense that this movie takes immaculate cinematography, the highest comedy, the lowest tragedy, and a family dynamic, all while juggling and juxtaposing its deep themes throughout a litany of great performances. The cast is awesome, and there really is not a weak performance in the ensemble. Everything is so realistic and honest, and it just blew me away with how raw it was.

Where The Farewell falters is in its third act. The editing somehow gets worse in act three, and where every shot leading up to the finale is perfect, there are some really bad edits that really made me wonder if they ran out of film by the end! Speaking of endings, I didn't feel that The Farewell knew how to end. Maybe that was intentional? It was just jarring to have three separate scenes where everything is wrapped up so nicely, only for the movie to continue and remind you how nicely everything was wrapped up. And The Farewell kept doing this. This movie is based on a true story, and I feel this method of ending the movie really held it back.

All in all, this is a really strong, fantastic movie that I have no doubt in my mind I will watch and enjoy again and again. If you get the opportunity to see The Farewell, I can't recommend it enough.