{"id":811,"date":"2019-07-03T14:37:29","date_gmt":"2019-07-03T21:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/?p=811"},"modified":"2019-07-03T14:38:27","modified_gmt":"2019-07-03T21:38:27","slug":"the-farewell-everyone-can-relate-to-this-film-in-some-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/2019\/the-farewell-everyone-can-relate-to-this-film-in-some-way\/","title":{"rendered":"The Farewell \u2013 Everyone Can Relate To This Film in Some Way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/thefarewell.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-812\" width=\"169\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/thefarewell.jpg 675w, https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/thefarewell-203x300.jpg 203w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 169px) 100vw, 169px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>A headstrong Chinese-American woman returns to China when her\nbeloved grandmother is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Billi struggles with her\nfamily&#8217;s decision to keep grandma in the dark about her own illness as they all\nstage an impromptu wedding to see grandma one last time. KIDS FIRST! Film\nCritic Jolleen M. comments, \u201cThis film rocked everyone\u2019s emotions. Although\nthere are multiple instances where the film is a bit slow, the overall\nemotional impact is great. There are moments of comedic relief throughout. I\nthink that everyone can relate to this film in some way. I made connections\nwith some of the ideas and scenes even though I am not Chinese.\u201d See her full\nreview below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Farewell<br>By Jolleen Mejia, KIDS FIRST! Film Critic, age 14<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This film rocked everyone\u2019s emotions. Although there are\nmultiple instances where the film is a bit slow, the overall emotional impact\nis great. There are moments of comedic relief throughout. I think that everyone\ncan relate to this film in some way. I made connections with some of the ideas\nand scenes even though I am not Chinese. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Farewell by Jolleen M.\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-3YTd9JbSRo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The Farewell<\/em> is about Billi and her family\u2019s reunion in China. They reunite because their grandma has developed\nlung cancer and the doctor says she only has weeks to live. The family chooses\nnot to tell Nai-Nai (grandma) that she has lung cancer. Instead, they tell her\nthat they are reunited for a wedding. Billi\u2019s family tells her that the reason\nfor not telling Nai-Nai is that it&#8217;s not the cancer that kills, but the fear.\nThe film is all about appreciating the time you have on earth and with your\nfamily. There are many moments of stillness, included watching the wind blow\nthrough the trees, for 30 seconds or more. I find this aspect of the film\nbeautiful, as it reminds me of the phrase, \u201cstop and smell the roses.\u201d But\nothers might interpret these moments as filler scenes and pointless. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Awkwafina, as Billie, is an exceptional actress. You can feel\nthe emotion she conveys through the screen, even if she doesn\u2019t say anything.\nFor her role she needs to show the audience that she is deeply troubled, but\nalso show that she tries to hide her feelings from her grandma. That is very\ndifficult to do and she does it perfectly. Without this, the film would lose a\nlot of its emotional impact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Farewell | Official Trailer HD | A24\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RofpAjqwMa8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The music sets the mood very well for some scenes, but in\nothers silence and black screens are&nbsp; set\nthe mood. Sometimes it&#8217;s the noise of nature, like the wind blowing through the\nleaves. Scenes like these are what makes the film divergent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The message of this film is about being appreciative of all\naspects of life. Billie begins to realize that while she spends time with her\nfamily in China. Every moment is a gift. I\nlove that the film is quite simple yet it has such a powerful effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I give this film 5 out of 5 stars and recommend it for ages 11\nto 18, as well as adults. There are innuendos, use of alcohol, cigarettes and\nsome bad language. Despite this, the film will move you to tears so check it\nout! It comes out July 12, 2019 in theaters! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A headstrong Chinese-American woman returns to China when her beloved grandmother is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Billi struggles with her family&#8217;s decision to keep grandma in the dark about her own illness as they all stage an impromptu wedding to see grandma one last time. KIDS FIRST! Film Critic Jolleen M. comments, \u201cThis film rocked [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jury-updates"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":815,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811\/revisions\/815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidsfirst.org\/juror\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}