(2019)

Submitted by Julio M

The wedding ceremony takes place in a mostly uneventful -yet somewhat animated- fashion, save for a couple instances in which, separately, Haibin (Jian Yongbo) and Hao Hao (Chen Han) break down crying, but they manage to recompose themselves and not raise any suspicions in front of Nai Nai (Zhao Shuzhen). Later, Billi (Awkwafina) and Nai Nai share a moment of conversation -after Nai Nai gives her a good-luck red envelope with money-, in which Billi confesses she was rejected for the Guggenheim Fellowship; Nai Nai encourages her by saying that life is not easy and she should never stop attempting to follow what her heart desires.

Everyone tearfully bids farewell to Nai Nai, while she herself struggles to keep her cool from the sadness of seeing everyone be gone again -all the while not knowing the truth about her cancer-. Billi and her parents return to America. One day, back in New York, while walking down a street, Billi feels the inspiration to start doing the “Ha! Ho!” exercise Nai Nai was seen doing earlier, as the film ends.

Before the credits roll, the real Nai Nai (Writer/Director Lulu Wang’s own grandma, whom the character was based on) is seeing enthusiastically doing said exercise, while a title card informs that, six years later, she is still alive, well and unaware of her cancer diagnosis.