I really loved the film The Farewell which we watched at Cinemateque last week. It is a moving story about a girl who travels from her home in New York to China to say good-bye to her grandmother who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. The story is beautifully told in the film and although it is a sad one there are definitely some laugh-aloud moments as well. The situation in the film is one that will resonate with many families.
I was particularly drawn to the music in The Farewell and wanted to know more about it so I listened to a fascinating interview with composer Alex Weston who put together the score for the film.
The musical piece in the film I particularly liked was a song written by Leonard Cohen and Patrick Leonard called Come Healing. The words were so meaningful and in the interview, Alex Weston explains that while the lyrics of the song fit beautifully with what is happening in one of the final scenes of the film, they thought Leonard Cohen’s very deep bass voice might not be the best fit for a story with a young female protagonist. So they asked Elayna Boynton, an American indie-soul singer to record it. She does a perfect job. You can hear her singing it here.
I would definitely recommend seeing The Farewell, both for its plot and its soundtrack. I am including the lyrics for Come Healing a piece of poetry I think I could write a sermon about.
And bring it to me now
The fragrance of those promises
You never dared to vow
The cross you left behind
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb
In arbitrary space
And none of us deserving
The cruelty or the grace
Where love has been confined
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind
That tore the light apart
Come healing of the reason
Come healing of the heart
An undivided love
The heart beneath is teaching
To the broken heart above
Let the earth proclaim
Come healing of the altar
Come healing of the name
To lift the little bud
O longing of the arteries
To purify the blood
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb
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The interesting and wonderful page that I ever read. Poetry is the disclosure of an inclination that the artist accepts to be inside an individual which the peruser perceives as his own.
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