The Farewell: contexts and key sequences

The Farewell (Lulu Wang, 2019): Billi, a young Chinese-American woman in New York, learns that her grandmother, Nai Nai, has terminal cancer and has not been told; the family gathers in Changchun for a hastily arranged wedding as an excuse to see her, and Billi struggles to keep the secret.
Based on Lulu Wang's own family, a bilingual film in English and Mandarin made with American independent backing.
China's rapid modernisation, and migration between China and the USA.
Key sequences to know in detail: the opening, the family banquet, and the departure and the ending.
Cinematography and mise-en-scène: a mostly static camera, symmetrical framing around round tables, subdued colours, and the bird as a motif.
Editing and sound: slow editing, a slow-motion walk, sound bridges between China and America, and a musical motif.
The few short lines of dialogue that matter most in these sequences, a few words each.
Short answers of the kind the first parts of the Section B question ask for: naming and describing a character, and explaining how a technique introduces them.
How to answer each part: the marks, and what the short identify and explain parts need as well as the extended answer, since naming a technique instead of a specific example from the film loses marks there. Practice questions to try, each headed 'Practice question' with its marks.
Quote only short lines of dialogue you're sure of, a few words at a time, and base every point on what happens in the finished film.

What you need to know