As tender as it is terrifically acted, “Farewell Amor” tells an immigrant tale that will seem familiar to many but leaves a very specific impression.
The first feature written and directed by Oakland-born filmmaker Ekwa Msangi, “Amor” is a surefooted study of reunion and adjustment. Little comes easy to the film’s reunited family, but grace notes abound as each of the three central characters face new challenges and trials. It’s enough to give you faith in the American experiment — or, at least, in this particular one.
Walter, played in a key of quiet distress by Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine(“Treme,” “The Chi”), has been driving cabs in Brooklyn since he escaped from civil-war-torn Angola 17 years ago. Visabureaucracy prevented his wife and baby from joining him, though they managed to reach safety in Tanzania on the other side of Africa.
But Esther (Zainab Jah of “Homeland”) and teenage Sylvia (Jayme Lawson) finally arrive at New York’s Kennedy Airport as “Amor” begins. Walter’s done his best to make his one-bedroom apartment welcoming, but right away there are tensions.
Sylvia’s noticeably more sullen than the average 17-year-old. Esther, who has given herself to Jesus rather than any other man for all these years, is hurt when Walter declines her advances. She frets that it’s because she’s old and unattractive. It is not and she is neither; it’s because Walter loves another woman.
We soon learn that he also likes to dance and drink a little, two things Esther’s charlatan Tanzanian evangelist has convinced her are sinful. Dance is a sore point between mother and daughter, too. Part of why Sylvia seems so detached is that she’s often just into the kuduro beats blasting through her AirPods. Inevitably, father and daughter find their way to bonding over their shared musical interest; he even surprises her with the revelation that, before the war, Mom used to cut quite a rug too.
“Farewell Amor” is divided into three sections, with some scenes and the circumstances surrounding them reconsidered from each of the main characters’ viewpoints. This not only makes for some intriguing cinematic game-playing, it also adds deep, humanistic dimensions to what may have seemed inconsiderate actions. These are three people trying to cope with disrupting changes, essentially three strangers determined to be a family with very few clues how to do so. It’s heartbreaking and heartening.
Born in the East Bay while her Tanzanian parents were studying at Stanford University, Msangi grew up in Kenya from the age of 5. “Farewell Amor” was partially inspired by the situation of an uncle and aunt who have remained married for two decades despite being separated by visa difficulties. She understands this universal story from the inside, and what its contours mean to the individuals affected. Her film feels like a gift.
M“Farewell Amor”:Drama. Starring Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, Zainab Jah and Jayme Lawson. Directed by Ekwa Msangi. (Not rated. 101 minutes.) Available video on demand Friday, Dec. 11.