MARIA DUARTE recommends a remarkable study of the friendship between a Palestinian and a Pakistani, broken by a hostile state
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Family matters
That’s the poignant theme of an excellent comedy drama as relatives attempt to hide the truth of her impending demise from a feisty matriarch, says MARIA DUARTE
MATTHEW HAWKINS rakes through un-fancy words and flair-free summaries to find who and what might be flamboyant
PETER MASON is exhilarated by an exciting, well-considered and historically minded tribute to the great Trinidadian instrument
Reducing historical lives to ‘male’ and ‘female’ roles, we lose the nuance of those lives and a clearer understanding of past societies, suggests CLAIRE ISABELLA GILMOUR
CHRIS SEARLE relishes the genius of pianist Alexander Hawkins, his many ensembles, and his new album
The Farewell (PG)
Directed by Lulu Wang
LULU WANG’S The Farewell is a poignant film about the complexities of family dynamics, the clash of cultures and whether it is ever OK to withhold the truth from loved ones.
It centres on the Chinese-born but US-raised Billi (Awkwafina), who reluctantly returns to Changchun to see her grandmother and family matriarch Nai-Nai (Shuzhen Zhao).
She has been given just weeks to live but the rest of the family has agreed not to tell her and they all return home under the guise of a cousin’s impromptu wedding. It has been decades since they have all been together but Nai-Nai is none the wiser.
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ANGUS REID recommends a very unusual documentary: a love story between two disillusioned journalists