critics consensus

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

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Movie Info

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.

Genre:

drama
Original Language:

English
Director:

Ekwa Msangi
Producer:

Huriyyah Muhammad, Sam Bisbee, Josh Penn
Writer:

Ekwa Msangi
Release Date (Theaters):

Dec 11, 2020 limited
Release Date (Streaming):

Dec 11, 2020
Box Office (Gross USA):

$4.7K
Runtime:

1h 41m
Production Co:

MACRO, LUCKFILM, MUBI, Wavelength Productions, Department of Motion Pictures, Outrageous Pictures, Park Pictures, Jhumka Films, Lucky 13 Productions

Cast & Crew

Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine
Walter

Zainab Jah
Esther

Jayme Lawson
Sylvia

Joie Lee
Nzingha

Marcus Scribner
DJ

Nana Mensah
Linda

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Critic Reviews for Farewell Amor

All Critics (65) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (64) | Rotten (1)

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...

December 30, 2020 | Full Review…

Mark Kermode
Kermode & Mayo's Film Review
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.

December 29, 2020 | Full Review…

Joe Morgenstern
Wall Street Journal
There are three sides to every story in Ekwa Msangi's vivid and carefully observed feature debut, and so she cleverly splits the film into thirds, replaying the action but changing the vantage point with each chapter.

December 20, 2020 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Simran Hans
Observer (UK)
An accomplished feature film debut from writer and director Ekwa Msangi.

December 17, 2020 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Wendy Ide
Financial Times
An auspicious start to a career that's likely to accelerate fast.

December 15, 2020 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Leslie Felperin
Guardian
Its gentle, understated tone belies Msangi's careful attention to rhythm and detail, though the simplicity of the plot, particularly in a few mild contrivances, slightly undermines the story's authenticity.

December 13, 2020 | Rating: B+ | Full Review…

Mary Sollosi
Entertainment Weekly
A powerful immigrant story with a deep affection for its characters, this is a beautifully intimate piece of filmmaking.

February 25, 2021 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Jennie Kermode
Eye for Film
Immigration is a hot topic in the United States. It's being painted as specifically as immigrants wanting to climb over the wall and infuriate the United States however we never discuss the pains families endure coming to America legally.

February 20, 2021 | Rating: 7/10 | Full Review…

Kathia Woods
Cup of Soul
Farewell Amor offers a graceful reminder that there are two sides to every story - or, in this case, three sides.

February 17, 2021 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Margot Harrison
Seven Days
Msangi structures the film as a triptych, telling the story from each character's perspective, revisiting some moments, and introducing them to the parts of their lives that they keep hidden from each other.

January 25, 2021 | Full Review…

Orla Smith
Seventh Row
It may be true that, "absence makes the heart grow fonder." But, it's also true that people are constantly changing and evolving. How wonderful, if unlikely, that two changed people might remain in love - or slowly rediscover it - after 17 years.

January 22, 2021 | Rating: 9/10 | Full Review…

Alexandra MacAaron
Women's Voices for Change
Farewell Amor is an impressive feature-film debut from [writer/director Ekwa] Masangi, who weaves the perspectives of these three different family members together in a very cohesive and compelling way.

January 18, 2021 | Full Review…

Carla Hay
Culture Mix