‘FAREWELL’ POWERFUL
“The Farewell” is an unexpected movie because of its overall direction.
From the trailer, it looks like a film about a Chinese-born, Americanraised woman dealing with her grandmother, who is dying of stage four lung cancer. The younger woman doesn’t tell the older one about her illness. The trailer gives the impression that the movie will be about death, but it’s so much more than that. It’s more about a woman who doesn’t quite fit into either American or Chinese worlds, and how she navigates cultural and personal expectations.
And it’s more powerful knowing that the story came from the director herself.
As the film says, it’s based on an “ac
the need to protect himself. One day he notices a karate studio, and he decides to silently step in and watch a training session. The instructor, known only as Sensei, carries himself with a manly, intimidating authority that appeals to the constantly put-upon Casey. Very quickly, Casey signs up for night classes at the dojo.
If that sounds fairly straightforward, it doesn’t take into account just how clever Stearns is and how absurdly funny he can be. It also doesn’t spotlight the strange and discomforting world he has created.
The film is set in a gray no man’s land which is never identified and hard to pin down in time. People don’t have smartphones and still use VHS tapes: Just when and where are we, exactly? You never know, which adds a vague feeling of unease that is heightened by the director’s decision to have the actors speak in flat, robotic monotones. The dialogue often is wildly funny and all delivered in the same numbing drone. It’s weirdly hypnotic and hilarious at the same time.
Stearns, who writes and directs, puts Casey on a remarkably strange path. Casey enjoys the progress he makes at the dojo, as he earns a yellow belt. It gives him the sensation of security that he lacks, so much so that he begins wearing it all the time.
Sensei takes a special interest in Casey and starts tutoring him on how to be more manly. Casey studies French; no good, Sensei tells him, steering him toward German. No more adult-contemporary music, either; soon Casey is blasting metal from his car. Even his dog is deemed decidedly non-macho, and Casey grows more and more aggressive, particularly with his co-workers.
As Casey falls down the rabbit hole of toxic masculinity, Stearns pokes a viewer in the chest: For example, why does one’s taste in music raise questions about their manhood? What makes men sometimes feel less manly in the company of others? It’s not heavy-handed, but it’s the kind of film that sparks conversations once it’s over.
It’s a surprising film in many ways. Both for its thoughtfulness and the way the plot unfurls into thriller territory as Casey falls deeper under Sensei’s spell. The film, not exactly light to begin with, grows darker as it ventures toward its climax. Stearns says some people have compared the film to a comic “Fight Club,” but it feels like something that is wholly original — and compelling.