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