Farewell Amor

Released Dec 11, 2020

1 hr. 41 min.

Drama

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List

97%

76 Reviews

Tomatometer

71%

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Audience Score

After 17 years apart, Angolan immigrant Walter is joined in the U.S. by his wife and teen daughter. Now absolute strangers sharing a one bedroom Brooklyn apartment, they struggle to overcome the emotional distance between them. Walter is trying to let go of a previous relationship while his wife Esther struggles with a new country, culture and a husband who seems distant. Their daughter Sylvia is a dancer just like her father, and while she also finds her new life difficult, she bravely starts to explore the city and show herself through dance. The film is both a universal immigrant story and the unique perspective of three characters bound together by history and hope. It is an intimate and deeply personal look at an inter-generational tale that has defined America since its inception.

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Critics Consensus

A striking debut feature for writer-director Ekwa Msangi, Farewell Amor movingly captures the fallout from a long-separated family's reunion.

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Audience Member

"Farewell Amor" is director Ekwa Msangi's feature film debut but you would never guess it as this remarkable film feels like the work of someone who has been making films for years. The plot revolves around an Angolian woman who comes to America with her teenage daughter to be reunited with her husband after an absence of 17 years only to discover they are virtually strangers and it's told from the point of view of all three of them. However, this is no grim problem picture but a surprisingly upbeat account of lives coming together and how something as simple as dance, for example, can engage people on the most basic of levels. The three central performances are outstanding as Msangi glides her cast seamlessly through the twists and turns of her characters' lives while getting in some nifty dance moves in the process. The fact that the wife and mother, (a splendid Zainab Jah), is deeply religious while her husband, (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, equally good), has lost his religion, if he ever had any, doesn't help matters just as her fidelity and his infidelity over the years proves a major hurdle they must overcome. But, as I said, grimness is put on the back-burner and this lovely character study is all the better for it.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

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Audience Member

A lovely film with some fine performances. It has the well-paced, delicate touch that was needed to help bring out the authenticity and sensitivity of the subject matter. 3.2 stars

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

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Audience Member

Filled with tenderness and emotion, Ekwa Msangi lets us walk into the inmigrant experience and, beyond the sociopolitical transcendental themes, that strange feeling that re-encounter causes, making the audience feel all the changes happening around the charachters (brought to life by an exceptional ensamble), incluiding melancholia, nostalgia and, of course, and above all, love.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

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tony h

This movie truly has much deeper insight to offer than its basic subject-matter. It shows the characters of real people. It shows how real people have to deal with things, especially when things are not so good all around, especially when things are simply dreadful all around.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

brent m

This simple tale of an Angolan immigrant family reunited after 17 years apart tells the story of how they seek to pick up the pieces and move on. Director Ekwa Msangi's debut theatrical narrative feature is told in three segments, one each from the perspectives of the three principal characters (father, mother and teenage daughter). Each segment includes details of their collective story that don't appear in preceding or following chapters, thus allowing the overall narrative to be pieced together like a puzzle. By presenting the story in this way, viewers witness the bigger picture gradually come into view in much the same way that the protagonists do, a refreshingly revelatory storytelling experience. Admittedly, some of the material is somewhat predictable and more than a little bit sentimental, but these drawbacks are compensated for by fine performances, touching writing and a pervasive warmth, all aimed at shining a bright light on the experience of what it's like to live under circumstances such as these. It's an important message in a time like this, with so many from so many places living under similar conditions. In doing so, the picture illuminates the connections, challenges, hardships and reconciliations that those living out the immigrant experience go through and share with one another, no matter what their points of origin, ports of entry or hopes for the future may be.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

dave d

It's a noble effort that never quite connected with me the way I had hoped. In fact, I found myself struggling to find a reason to continue with the film. It actually put me to sleep twice. So I gave it a rewatch and still it just didn't resonate. The focus wasn't there perhaps because it's a totally unrelatable for just about everyone watching. The tangents come and go as if from another film. It just didn't work for me. Final Score: 5/10

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Ekwa Msangi

Director

Ntare Mwine

Walter

Zainab Jah

Esther

Jayme Lawson

Sylvia

Joie Lee

Nzingha

Marcus Scribner

DJ

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Farewell Amor: Trailer 1

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Derek Smith

Slant Magazine

Ekwa Msangi’s debut feature attempts to give a fresh spin on the American immigrant story.

Jun 23, 2022

Full Review

Mark Kermode

Kermode & Mayo's Film Review

The best thing I can say about Farewell Amor is that it's its own movie, the opposite of I'm Thinking of Ending Things...

Dec 30, 2020

Full Review

Joe Morgenstern

Wall Street Journal

One of the great strengths of Farewell Amor is its intimacy, the sense it conveys of three people close together yet emotionally distant in Walter's small, narrow Brooklyn apartment. Another strength, and a huge one, is Mr. Mwine's portrayal of Walter.

Dec 29, 2020

Full Review

Jillian Chilingerian

Offscreen With Jillian

Writer-Director Ekwa Msangi uses attention to detail to beautifully construct this narrative.

Aug 30, 2023

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Brian Susbielles

InSession Film

It is humanism, even confined to a small apartment, that defines the family and its radical adjustment from continent to continent.

Feb 22, 2023

Full Review

Annlee Ellingson

CineWomen

In the specificity of this family’s story, [Ekwa] Msangi expresses a universal immigration experience of separation, determination, and love.

Aug 17, 2022

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Synopsis

After 17 years apart, Angolan immigrant Walter is joined in the U.S. by his wife and teen daughter. Now absolute strangers sharing a one bedroom Brooklyn apartment, they struggle to overcome the emotional distance between them. Walter is trying to let go of a previous relationship while his wife Esther struggles with a new country, culture and a husband who seems distant. Their daughter Sylvia is a dancer just like her father, and while she also finds her new life difficult, she bravely starts to explore the city and show herself through dance. The film is both a universal immigrant story and the unique perspective of three characters bound together by history and hope. It is an intimate and deeply personal look at an inter-generational tale that has defined America since its inception.

Director: Ekwa Msangi
Executive Producer: Lance Acord, Jackie Kelman Bisbee, Alicia Brown, Pradnya Dugal, Efe Cakarel, Tej Dugal, Theodora Dunlap, Cassian Elwes, Michael Gottwald, Poppy Hanks, Charles D. King, Joel Michaely
Screenwriter: Ekwa Msangi
Distributor: IFC Films
Production Co: MACRO, LUCKFILM, MUBI, Wavelength Productions, Department of Motion Pictures, Outrageous Pictures, Park Pictures, Jhumka Films, Lucky 13 Productions
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 11, 2020, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 11, 2020
Box Office (Gross USA): $4.7K

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