“The Farewell” is a true story about a large Chinese family who believe that if an older person gets Cancer, its better to lie to them because the fear of dying is worse than the disease itself. After seeing this movie its hard not to believe in this tradition born from of the Chinese culture. What sense does it make to tell an old person they have this horrendous disease, when they can live out their last days in comfort and without fear? Another perspective is, how often are doctors wrong about how long a person has left to live, giving more credence to this idea of lying to an older person about having Cancer.

The Farewell is one of the few movies I have seen that is equally in English and subtitles and both were very well done. The acting was also very good, even though at times it was hard to understand some of the English speaking. The sub story of the entire family lying to their grandmother about lung cancer is an impending wedding with the brother of the main character Billi, played very well by actress Awkwafina. There were some emotional and even very funny scenes in this film despite the depressing diagnosis of the beloved matriarch of this family.

The Rotten Tomatoes ratings for The Farewell are an extremely high 99% and I give this movie a 90% rating and strong recommendation.