The Farewell

What follows is a series of hackneyed scenes about the different interpersonal relationships within the family, centering on the heroine's bond with her grandmother.

Thematically, The Farewell is about reconciliation with the past and wrestling with cultural traditions that now seem foreign in a country that once was home. But it's also simply about grappling with loss...

The Farewell is a comedy of warmth and bracing honesty. Simply put, it's one of the best films of the year.

Magnificent screen presence. I thought it was really lovely. I thought it was really funny. I thought it was really moving. You will laugh, you will cry.

Ultimately, it's all about balance, a yin and yang of roots and identities, humour and pathos that comes together into a satisfying, bittersweet wedding banquet of a movie.

You'll be spewing with tears before the first act is done.

Such an average, uneventful, small, intimately-designed, down-to-earth, slice-of-life drama that very little of it is memorable.

The fact it's based on writer-director Lulu Wang's real life experiences only adds the poignancy.

As authentic and involving as a family drama could hope to be, and one of the most effective takes on the tension between culture and identity seen in the last few years

The Farewell packs a powerful emotional punch while still offering plenty of humor to give it some levity.