A Chinese family discover that their matriarch has only a few months left to live when she is diagnosed with lung cancer. They choose to keep the news from her and schedule a wedding as a means to bring the whole family together for a celebration.

The Farewell is based on writer/director Lulu Wang’s life and is told from the perspective of Billi (Awkwafina), a Chinese American who was raised from the age of six in New York. This perspective gives us cultural insight into how western and eastern families react to the prospect of death and to discuss the question of whether knowing that you are going to die is a good thing.

Awkwafina gives a subtle and impressive performance as the granddaughter who doesn’t understand why hiding the illness would be a good thing. I only recall seeing the rapper turned actress in Ocean’s 8 and Crazy Rich Asians before and this performance is really a completely different beast and mark her as one to watch. Zhao Shuzhen also delivers a great performance as the beloved Nai Nai who the family are so keen to send off well.

Elsewhere the other family members we meet are memorable as well, each with their own story and baggage.

It’s an intriguing, insightful film and my only gripe would be that it feels slightly too long even with a relatively short running time of 100 minutes.