Sundance review: In tender drama 'Farewell Amor,' an immigrant has a strained family reunion

‘Farewell Amor’

★★★

Playing in the U.S. Dramatic competition of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Running time: 96 minutes.

Screens again: Thursday, Jan. 30, 6 p.m., Resort (Sundance); Saturday, Feb. 1, 9 a.m., PC Library (Park City).

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The American dream is not without its pitfalls, such as those endured by the Angolan family at the center of writer-director Ekwa Msangi’s warm-hearted drama “Farewell Amor.”

Walter (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine) is picking up his wife, Esther (Zainab Jah), and their teen daughter Sylvia (Jayme Lawson) at JFK. Walter has not seen his family in 17 years, which means Sylvia doesn’t really know him, since she was a baby when they were last together.

Walter and Esther also have changed in the intervening years. Esther has become a devout Christian, putting pictures of Jesus up around their tiny apartment. Walter is dealing with another change in the apartment: That Linda (Nana Mensah), who was Walter’s girlfriend for the last few years, is no longer living there.

While Esther tries to do right by Walter, as the Bible commands her, she also is being biblically strict with Sylvia. On the other hand, Sylvia wants to explore this new American culture — specifically, she wants to compete in a dance-battle competition that a charming classmate, DJ (Marcus Scribner), has encouraged her to enter.

Deploying a three-pronged script structure — first from Walter’s viewpoint, then Sylvia’s, then Esther’s — Msangi lets surprises unfold organically, letting us get to know these people just as they are learning about each other. The three leads give lived-in performances, strengthening the notion that this is really a family in spite of their hardships.