The Farewell: Where personal and universal meet

By Lynn Lee

Coming out of The Farewell, I jokingly asked my husband, “Any of those family dynamics ring a bell?”  It was a double-edged joke, as one of the most challenging differences between us is our night-and-day attitudes towards our respective families, which we attribute to our different backgrounds.  He’s white and can trace his American lineage back to the Mayflower, but feels no particular responsibility to his immediate family and rarely sees his extended family; I’m a second-generation Korean American, born to naturalized U.S. citizens who, despite having now been here far longer than they ever lived in Korea, have maintained strong ties to their birth country and culture.  As such, they regularly remind me of my obligations to my immediate family, my extended family, and even my husband's family - something that both amuses and bemuses my husband.

No surprise, then, that The Farewell was a must-see for me.  True, it’s not “my” story: I’m not Chinese, after all, and as far as I know no one in my family has ever lied to anyone else in the family about their health.  But the film’s broader underlying themes – the feeling of being caught between the values of East and West, and not fully belonging to one or the other – spoke to me at a gut level...

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MidSommar is more fun to relive than to watch

Every time we begin to doubt A24's ability to remain the freshest and funnest and most reliably high quality distributor, they remind us to continue in the faith. Look, for example, at this brilliant insanity they've cooked up to promote MidSommar...

You may have seen that already but we're sharing it as an excuse to discuss the movie again.

Though it's no secret that your host here at The Film Experience is not a fan of the movie (hear the podcast discussion) Murtada was correct in his assertion that the film has inspired some great critical writing. Whether you love the movie like our own Chris Feil or dislike it, like me, it's quite easy to enjoy after the fact. It's already inspiring great fan art, silly memes, and fine critical writing. CONSIDER....

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Review Catch-Up

by Nathaniel R

A confession: After an alarm mishap I accidentally slept right through my Lion King critics screening earlier in the week. Upon waking I was angry with myself because there is no way I wanted to actually pay to see photorealistic animals singing. After perusing the early reviews both pro and con, I became convinced that the sleep was no accident but a divine intervention from the cinematic gods. My new stance is that I can wait for the screener to arrive during awards season... as no movie has ever struck me (from afar) as less necessary than this one. In truth I don't even love the 1994 picture (as Disney renaissance movies go, it's low on my personal list). Anyway, on to movies we have caught up with recently that we either haven't reviewed or talked at length about on the podcast...

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Review: Stuber

by Dancin' Dan

Stu is a nice guy. Far too much of a nice guy, in fact. After he clocks out from his job working a big-box sports store, he cleans his car and clocks in to Uber, enduring all the assholes and drunks that use the car service in and around Los Angeles. He does this to get the money to help his best friend Becca open an all-women spin center, because he's also hopelessly in love with her. So after a rash of particularly bad (and mostly unfair) Uber reviews puts his precious star rating in jeopardy, and taciturn cop Vic Manning gets in his car, Stu is willing to do just about anything to make sure he gets a five-star rating. The problem is, Vic is reeling from the death of his partner, has just gotten a lead on his killer, and just had Lasik eye surgery. He can't see, and needs someone to drive him. Let the sparks - and laughs - fly.

Yes, the plot of Stuber is pretty boilerplate buddy comedy stuff. But it gains a lot from its casting...

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New this weekend: "The Farewell" and "The Art of Self Defense"

The alligator thriller Crawl and the buddy comedy Stuber are the new wide releases this weekend but let us now direct your attention to the new films in limited release today, as we reviewed both during their festival runs...

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