42 July 25 • 2019
jn

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Summer Hit?

The Farewell explores family love and loss, 
bringing local producer to a beautiful story.

E

ddie Rubin didn’
t have to move to 
Hollywood to become a film pro-
ducer. He is managing that career 
out of a home office in West Bloomfield, 
albeit with lots of travel. 
His latest project, The Farewell, took 
him to China, where he experienced cul-
tural elements different from his Jewish 
background but shared in the universal 
emotions expressed through the project.
The film, opening July 26 at the Main 
Art Theatre in Royal Oak and the Maple 
Theater in Bloomfield Township, was 
written and directed by Lulu Wang, who 
based the storyline on issues in her own 
family.
“Lulu’
s experiences were described in 
an NPR podcast before they were turned 
into a movie by Big Beach and Depth of 
Field, an independent production com-
pany,
” says Rubin, who connected with 
Wang and Big Beach producers at a film 
festival. “It’
s a beautiful story about love 
and loss.
“Lulu’
s grandmother, living in China, 
was diagnosed with cancer, and family 
members who had moved to other coun-
tries wanted to visit her. The woman 

didn’
t know about her diagnosis and 
some relatives believed if they showed up 
unannounced the grandmother would 
know something was up. 
“To deal with this issue, they came up 
with a ruse. A cousin, who had been dat-
ing someone for a very short period of 
time, says he is going to marry in China 
so they could all go under the guise of 
this wedding.
”
The lead character, 
played by Awkwafina 
(Crazy Rich Asians), essen-
tially is telling Lulu’
s story, 
showing the struggles in 
deciding if they should 
tell the woman about the 
illness. Some in China, 
Rubin explains, were 
raised to believe that if you 
don’
t know you’
re sick, 
you get better.
Rubin says the film also delves into 
the cultural changes the returning family 
members encounter after being away 
for some time. That adds to the movie’
s 
depth by exploring the remembrance of 
a homeland and defining what home is.

Segments of the film are spoken in 
Mandarin with English subtitles.
As it opened on the coasts recently, 
the film garnered stellar reviews from 
Variety, Rolling Stone, the Wall Street 
Journal, Entertainment Weekly and more; 
and it was a standout at the Sundance 
Film Festival earlier in the year. And 
forbes.com suggests the film may be the 
summer’
s surprise hit. 
 
Rubin, 32, is a 
BBYO adviser and 
grew up attending 
Congregation B’
nai 
Moshe in West 
Bloomfield. He and 
his wife, Michelle, 
have a young daugh-
ter. He believes his 
early success as a 
producer — even 
working on a film in his sophomore year 
at the University of Michigan — comes 
from persistence, a positive message he 
wants to impart to young people. 
The filmmaker says he can consistent-
ly move on despite any rejection and is 
proud of his completed projects. Besides 

Million Dollars, a music video for Big 
Sean, he can look back on dramatized 
productions, including Mooz-lum star-
ring Danny Glover and Love and Honor 
featuring Austin Stowell and Liam 
Hemsworth.
“My responsibilities as executive 
producer for The Farewell were the 
merging of the creative and the financial 
interests,
” Rubin says. “I had to figure 
out, with the budget we had, how to pull 
certain things off and keep production 
moving day to day.
”
He says he was honored to work with 
veteran producers Dani Melia, Peter 
Saraf, Anita Gou, Andrew Miano, Jane 
Zheng and the Weitz brothers. 
Rubin, whose recent travels have taken 
him from New Mexico to Morocco in 
evaluating movie possibilities, invited 
his mom, Edythe Rubin of Farmington 
Hills, to see a preview of The Farewell.
“I asked her if she would want me to 
tell her if she had a serious illness or let 
her live out her life,
” he says, still impact-
ed by this latest movie. “It’
s a very tough 
question, and she really wasn’
t able to 
answer it. I can see both sides.
” ■ 

LEFT: Actresses Awkwafina 

(Billi) and Zhao Shuzhen (Nai-

Nai). BELOW: Filmmaker Eddie 

Rubin of West Bloomfield 

chats with filmgoers during 

this year’
s Cinetopia Film 

Festival.

RANDY TESCH/CINETOPIA FILM FESTIVAL

Details
The Farewell begins July 26 at 
the Main Art Theatre, Royal Oak, 
(248) 542-5198 and the Maple 
Theater, Bloomfield Twp, (248) 
750-1030. Eddie Rubin will be 
doing Q&As at the Maple after 
7 p.m. screenings July 26-27.

The cast of The Farewell — minus the ailing grandmother

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COURTESY A24

COURTESY A24

