On Friday, January 24 at 2:00 pm, Bernardsville Public Library will present a free screening of the 2019 movie “The Farewell.” The film tells the story of a young woman named Billi (Awkwafina) whose family decides to keep news of a terminal diagnosis from the family’s elder matriarch, Billi’s grandmother. Awkwafina, a Chinese-American rapper, just won a Golden Globe Award in the lead actress film category, the first woman of Asian descent to do so.
Directed by Lulu Wang, the movie is a fictionalized account of Wang’s own family. Ann Hornaday wrote in The Washington Post: “Perhaps because she’s so intimately familiar with the paradoxes at play, Wang balances the alternately madcap and melancholy contours of “The Farewell” with admirable assurance, channeling her own obvious ambivalence through Billi’s sometimes affecting, often hilarious mixed feelings.”
Viewers are encouraged to linger after the film to talk about it. A brief document with background information will be provided to start the discussion, and there is always a spirited conversation about character, motivation and style.
Bernardsville Library’s movie series is funded by gifts to the Friends of the Bernardsville Library. The movies are selected for cultural enrichment and for appeal to a wide variety of tastes and interests in the community.
There is no charge to attend the movies; advance sign-up is requested, but not required. To register online go to www.bernardsvillelibrary.org and follow the link from Adult Programs, or call the library at 908-766-0118 to sign up.