Movie Review - Minari

Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 115 minutes
Year: 2021
Starring: Steven Yeung, Yeri Han, Alan S. Kim, Noel Cho, Yuh-Jung Youn, Will Patton

Description: A Korean family starts a farm in 1980s Arkansas.

Review: If there was a film that stole the hearts of many voters during the 2021 film awards season, it was “Minari”. Especially Yuh-Jung Youn, who won the Oscar for best female supporting actor, grabbed everyone with her role as a contrarian grandmother. I was looking forward to this movie so much and it didn’t disappoint.
After years of working on the assembly line to determine the sex of newborn chicks, Jacob has had enough. Without proper consultation with his wife, he take the whole family in tow. And to the place where he bought a piece of land from his savings. The plan: Jacob is going to grow real Asian vegetables for the growing market of immigrants who, like him, have made the move from Korea to America. If he can strike the right sales deals with Asian greengrocers and supermarkets is just part of the pressure on Jacob and his family.
His wife Monica doesn’t like the new residential location in Arkasas at all, son David has a weak physical condition and the mother-in-law Soonja is brought into the house with all its consequences. Director Lee Isaac Chun molded all kinds of personal experiences from his youth into a story about family, hard work and dreams of a better future. And the affection that the director feels for his own former family situation, sometimes against his will, whines through completely.
It is one of those stories that doesn’t seem to have much to say, but that creeps up on you because you start to love the different characters. Even if they have a hard time getting along. Yuh-Jung Youn won her Oscar for playing a smiley old hag who takes pleasure in making fun of her grandson when he has wet the bed. And it’s fantastic. Of course it also helps that the little boy himself, Alan S. Kim is too cute and plays along with the banter. You laugh at Grandma’s antics, but you also sympathize with David’s pain. Ans slowly you also see a bond forming between them.
It wasn’t just Yuh-Jung Youn who was a standout in the race for the awards. Steven Yeun was the first actor of Asian descent to be nominated for the Oscar for best leading actor. Totally deserved. He has the tricky task of playing a dreamer who stoically persists in all adversity. The weight on his shoulders builds and builds, long past you think it’s getting too much for him.
“Minari” has a velvety visual style, with a bright use of color and a beautiful play with in incidence od natural light. And the music completely supports the melancholy, yet hopeful tone. The entire form exudes lighthearted arthouse, in which serious matters are given the proper weight and a laugh alternates with deep seriousness.

Rating: 4,5/ 5