In these challenging times of Covid-19, what is better than watching gerontological movies? Yes, so go watch movies on older persons or with ageing stars.
So, in general, the movie The Farewell is a 2019 American comedy-drama, directed by Lulu Wang and stars Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, and Zhao Shuzhen..
This film is about an old and a well known moral question of: "to tell the truth?" or "to tell a lie?" - when it comes to a terminal illness of an older parent or relative.
In the context of this movie, the question surrounds an aging Chinese grandmother, who is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer - but does not know about it, as her sister (who takes care of her) - decides not to tell her. Her two sons live outside of China with their families, and they all agree and decide not to tell their mother about her terminal illness. However, in order to say farewell (...i.e. the name of the movie...) - they arrange a wedding for her grandchild who lives in Japan, to take place in China, so that all the family can get together under the excuse of coming to the wedding, but actually be coming to meet before the grandmother dies.
The story is told through the lens of Billy, a young single woman in her early 30s, who is the grandchild who lives in the US. Billy, who is very much American in her culture and values, does not understand the decision not to tell her grandmother about her illness and about the fact that she is going to die soon.
Billy and all the family travel to Chine, and basically, the rest of the film describes the familial interactions, twists and spins that occur thereafter.
So, is it a good gerontological movie? It certainly well portrays the importance of culture in the field of gerontology; it well describes the relativity of values, and of the place and role different societies ascribe to older persons (and more specifically, the gap between the Chinese collective/family-based values as opposed to the American individualistic culture). So, from this point of view, and especially for Americans, this can be a good kicker for discussions around aging, culture and elder care.
However, for non-Americans, (or at least for an Israeli like me), who face the gerontological dilemmas and contradictions between individualism and collectivism on a daily basis - there isn't really anything new or original in this movie.
So, overall this is an OK movie to escape the Corona virus, but not much beyond.
2019
USA/China
Director: Lulu Wang
Official trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RofpAjqwMa8