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Sonia Carnell

Professor K.C. Jensen

Film 1070-502-Su20

August 7, 2020
The Farewell

This film has many different elements to consider when describing this film. These are

film contents, cinematic effects and universal theme. The description below starts with the film

facts. The title of my researched film is The Farewell. It was produced in the year 2019. The

director and writer are Lulu Wang. This is a Chinese film. This film is mainly based in China

with Chinese characters except the one fiancé who is Japanese and considered an outsider.

The first part of film contents is genre or the main category that the film falls under. I

think the film should be classified as comedy-drama. Most times I do not agree with the comedy

addition to any movie because I am not a humorous person. I like dramas. To balance the

serious nature of this movie, I think it must have a certain amount of humor added. Billi's

grandma is dying of cancer and everyone lies to her, so she doesn't know the real truth. They

hold a fake wedding and invite all the relatives to come visit. I think this is really supposed to be

a sad movie. Instead it is funny many times, especially during several scenes in the wedding

reception. The director sandwiches serious moments that seem as if someone is about to spill the

beans to grandma when Uncle Haibin goes up to make a toast to the bride and groom and his

makes a tribute to his mother instead and almost cries. and then doesn’t with awkward moments

and Karaoke singing and there is a drinking game to get the groom drunk, a Chinese opera music

singer is so beautiful that the now drunk groom starts crying and can't stop even when they have

the wedding photo with a big rainbow mural behind. Lastly, Billi's goes on stage at her
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grandma's request, to make a wedding toast to her cousin, who actually just got married and she

bumbles through a broken English/Chinese good luck and congratulations.

The second part of film content is the Plot and Structure. This movie is runs

chronologically. Each sequence builds on the other until the climax when Billi final decides to

work in harmony with the family choice. Billi saves that day and keeps the latest CT scan test

results from reaching Nai Nai. Then she helps to doctor them up, so they only show benign

shadows. This movie is full of suspense too. It builds up a lot before Billi decides to hide Nai

Nai's illness. Billi is always sad for most of the movie. Everyone is sad too, but Billi especially

because she has missed her grandma since she moved away to America at age six. She gets told

my everyone in separate moments, that she needs to buck up and not tell Nai Nai that she is

dying of cancer. Then when her Uncle finally tells her in a way she can understand, that in

America one only thinks of oneself. but in China we think of the whole. We are all one family.

We take on the burden of this pain for Nai Nai so she does not have to. After that explanation it

finally sinks in for Billi, why she needs to do as everyone says, help the family share in the

burden of helping their grandma not die from a broken heart, but die in love.

The third part of film content is the characterization of how the characters are described.

The dialogue in this movie is almost entirely spoken in Chinese, with English mixed in. The

physical appearances of each character are modest, an almost conservative way of dressing.

Interactions towards each other are very formally and polite. They didn't show emotions very

often. Except when each of the uncle’s families tried to show how their kids had grown up to be

smarter than the other ones. But I noticed Billi's mom kind of in a backhanded way insulted her

when she said that Billi was a "losing stock." Stock refers to the investment that they had made

in their children in hopes that they would make lots of money to take care of their parents in their
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old age. Billi was the losing stock because she didn't take her chance to become a great pianist

when the church pastor gave her the keys to the church.

The fourth part of film content is the film’s imagery elements that are used to create

pictures in our minds. I there are many symbols in this movie. The one I recognize the most is

the symbol of the bird. There was a little bird in Billi's apartment in New York just before she

found out her Grandmother was sick and the next day, she flows on a plane to China to go see

her.

Next time the little bird showed up, was in her motel room in China, she just had a

cupping treatment in a Chinese salon. I think her Chinese family had her get that treatment so she

could get the bad spirits out of her system. I think the bird is kind a symbol of her grandma.

Like it is her grandma's spirit that his with her trying to help easy her pain through these

struggles. When she comes home and sits on her bed, takes off her shirt, there are red blisters all

over her back. That looks so painful. The last time we see the bird symbol used is at the end of

the story. When Billi is back in New York after having just flown home from China, there is a

scene where Billi straightens up and walks confidently, in the middle of a busy sidewalk and she

does the arm movement her grandma taught her and says "Ha" loudly. At that moment we see

the entire flock of birds that had been roosting in a tree outside of Nai Nai's apartment, all the

way in China, fly away together suddenly. I think the symbolism of the birds all flying away

shows that as soon as Billi truly believes in the Chinese culture and brought it home with her to

America, that the spirit birds that had come to take Nai Nai's spirit to heaven decided to fly away

and find another soul to take away instead. This is true because the last line in the movie says,

"Six years after her diagnosis, Nai Nai is still with us."
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According to the website, Chinasage, there is a link to their culture in "bird symbolism in

Chinese art." These birds help the "virtuous" and often mean "ill omens." I think the bird that is

on the windowsill in Billi's apartment is a swallow. The swallow represents building and

repairing for Billi and they often transform something and mean good luck.

To describe the cinematic effects, I must first talk about the soundtrack. I am always

fascinated with the soundtrack. The soundtrack in this film created atmosphere and helped

accentuate Billi's struggles. The main music style was violins and a single women’s acapella

high-pitched song without words. Kind of quiet delicate sound evoking a kind of baroque

atmosphere. At first it this singular woman's voice is only when Billi is struggling and sad. Then

it was anytime all the rest of the family goes back to their hotel room away from Nai Nai's

apartment. They share a cigarette on the balcony and tell Billi story’s about Chinese Culture.

Then violins start play when Little Nai Nai is telling the story of her own sister's lie. Nai Nai lied

to her own husband when he was dying too. The violins also play when they pass by Nai Nai's

old neighborhood that has recently been demolished. Most of the movie however is comedic and

they farce of a marriage and the reception is has interestingly contemporary and dance music,

and even an opera singer. After that there is a lot of dialogue which carries the movie and

through most of the story line.

The cinematically it is also representing in the universal theme of the Chinese culture,

keeping up appearances. It is always important to not wear your emotions on your face. Like for

example when, Nai Nai was schooling Billi on how to act when they greet relatives at the

wedding reception. She says, stand up tall, smile, shake their hand, and say, "Nice to meet you."

Or when Lu Jian (Billi's mother) tells her daughter, "I do not like to put all my emotions on

display like I am in the zoo." She is trying to help Billi learn how to act in public. Another
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example of Chinese culture is told to Billi by her Uncle Haibin. Haibin says, "In America, you

think your life belongs to oneself. In the East, a person's life belongs to the whole, the family,

your society." This is why they do not tell Nai Nai that she is about to die. They want to

shoulder the burden of this pain. A fourth example, is when Aunty Ling, tell Billi that it is not

the cancer that kills a person, it is the fear that kills you. So, it is better to die happy and thinking

toward a bright future, then burdened and worried. Nai Nai's family truly loves her and this what

they do in Chinese culture for their loved ones.

I am hoping that the more times I watch Asian films I will continue to learn the culture

and customs. In the future, I will be watching all films my favorite Chinese director of the film,

Here. I am hoping to learn to understand the more aspects of cinematography that I didn’t have a

chance to touch today, namely, camera shot, camera angles, lighting and editing.
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Works Cited

“Bird Symbolism in Chinese Art 鸟 Niǎo.” Birds in Chinese Symbolism,

www.chinasage.info/symbols/birds.htm.

Tchi, Rodika. “Place Feng Shui Bird Symbols in Your Home for Renewal and Inspiration.” The
Spruce, www.thespruce.com/feng-shui-bird-symbols-to-renew-and-inspire-1274677.

Wang, Lulu, director. The Farewell. Ray Productions, 2019.