“Minari” written and directed by Lee Isaac Chung and is a semi-autobiographical story of his life growing up in Lincoln, Arkansas. The film stars newcomer Alan Kim as David, a seven-year-old Korean-American boy who is faced with new surroundings and a different way of life when his father, Jacob (The Walking Dead‘s Steven Yeun), moves the family to rural Arkansas. His mother, Monica (Han Ye-ri), is aghast that they live in a mobile home in the middle of nowhere, and naughty little David and his sister, Anne (newcomer Noel Kate Cho), are bored and aimless. When David’s equally mischievous grandmother (South Korean legend Youn Yuh-jung) arrives from Korea to live with them, her unfamiliar ways arouse David’s curiosity. Meanwhile, Jacob, hell-bent on creating a farm on untapped soil, throws their finances, his marriage and the stability of the family into jeopardy.
Spending the majority of my life in Arkansas (obviously not during the 80s) it’s interesting to watch this film and see Chung’s view of Arkansas from his eyes. You’d expect a film about Korean immigrants moving to Arkansas to be riddled with racist white characters and while there is some of that sprinkled throughout, Chung instead paints these racist moments as the characters’ ignorance and less about them being pure racists. Chung shows a lot of respect for the people he grew up with while living in Arkansas which is something new from these type of films.
You can feel how personal this film is to Chung and every character and every moment is handled with a lot of care. Listening to a Q&A with him afterwards, the majority of things that happened in this story actually happened in real life which shows just how incredible it is that he and his family made it through all of that.
Chung’s directing and writing are incredible. There are multiple moments that just left me in tears, especially the ending. It’s an emotional rollercoaster in this film as Chung perfectly handles the sad, heartwarming, sweet, and funny moments. I left the screening in tears and I’m sure anyone that watches will too.
The cast is incredible across the board. Yeun proves his range as an actor after his appearance on The Walking Dead while Yuh-jung proves to American audiences just why she is such a legend in South Korean. Both of these actors deceiver Oscar nominations for their performances and I really hope they get some. Both child actors are also great especially when you take into account that their is both of their first acting roles. Kim is especially impressive as he is the center piece of the film and is able to carry the movie from beginning to end.
“Minari” is a must see, emotional experience from a story that doesn’t get told very often. There is so much to love about this film. It currently does not have an official release date, but should come out sometime in early 2021.
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