The Farewell (2019)

Director: Lulu Wang. Cast: Stars: Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin. 100 min. Rated PG. Drama/Comedy.

The trailer prepares you for a "West-meets-East" situation: young Asian-American travels to China to visit her dying grandmother, whose cancer diagnosis is kept hidden from. The film barely gets past that notion: in a modernizing China, your life still belongs not to you but to your family, and people decide what's best for you till the very end. The film successfully avoids the slippery pitfall of judging the culture, and shows it as it is. But there isn't enough material here for a feature length film - even though real-life subtitle at the end knocks you off your feet.

Mo says:

Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood (2019)

Director: Quentin Tarantino. Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Emile Hirsch, Timothy Olyphant, Dakota Fanning, Bruce Dern, Al Pacino, Lena Dunham, Kurt Russell, Zoë Bell, Michael Madsen. 161 min. Rated R. UK/USA/China. Comedy/Drama.

Tarantino continues his downward trend. He's now boasting the unwelcome confidence of writing an overlong story-less atmospheric movie, reviving Steve McQueen and Bruce Lee, reminiscent of Boogie Nights but lacking that film's charm, devoid of his trademark engaging dialogue or colorful characters, full of scenes that have no role in moving the plot forward (the Brad Pitt-Bruce Dern exchange?) - with an ending to repeat his Inglorious Basterds' twisting of historical facts. No doubt: a Tarantino film is always "cool" - but the auteur's magic is gone. Nevertheless, the uncompromising foot fetish is still there.

Mo says: