03 Feb Minari Review

MINARI

dir. Lee Isaac Chung, starring Steven Yuen, Han Ye-ri, Youn Yuh-jung, and Will Patton

Minari follows a Korean-American family that moves to a tiny Arkansas farm in search of their own American Dream. The family home changes completely with the arrival of their sly, foul-mouthed, but incredibly loving grandmother.

The promise of the American Dream. It’s what’s tempted so many people to immigrate to the United States, it’s what many people have chased to various levels of success, and it’s also become the folly and downfall of many a person. That’s where Minari starts. Steven Yuen’s Jacob has decided he’s done sexing chickens for a living and he’s going to start farming, which if we’re being honest is one of the noblest jobs there is. The family is packed up, uprooted from their lives, and soon realize that the farming life isn’t exactly what they expected it to be. This realization, the new hardships they face, and the ever-present medical condition of their young son David brings tension between Jacob and his wife Monica as they attempt to transition to this new lifestyle. All that gets disrupted when grandma shows up to live with them. What transpires from there is a roller coaster of triumphs, failures, surprises both good and bad, sacrifice, and loss. Now, as this is a Korean family, large portions of this movie are spoken in Korean; don’t let that deter you from enjoying this film. You might not completely understand their culture, but it’s easy to identify with their struggles, and with that identification comes empathy whether you agree with Jacob’s passion or not.

Speaking of Jacob, Steven Yuen spread his wings and let his light shine here. He’s masterful in his subtlety of emotions; ranging from hopeful, to good natured, to angry, to despairing, and he pulls every one of them off in a manner that makes you connect to and root for him. Even with his powerhouse acting, Han Ye-ri as his wife Monica Yi steals the show for me, having to do a lot of the heavy lifting in the background of scenes. Whereas Jacob is ambitious and determined to do this thing in order to succeed and feed their family, Ye-ri’s Monica is left to do the equally insurmountable task of keeping a family together while living in an unfamiliar world. After a number of confrontational scenes between Jacob and Monica, the final one is played as far more subdued, almost tired by both actors after having giving all their energy to their respective endeavors. To me, that scene is the crux and highlight of the entire film. That’s when it all converges for me: Chung’s writing and directing and Yuen and Ye-ri’s acting all combine to make the most powerful scene of the movie and one of the best scenes of the year. Alan Kim as David and Youn Yuh-Jung as Grandma are also standouts in a number of good performances as well. Kim is a little firecracker on screen, equal parts funny, obstinate, and caring. The biggest downfall in this movie I think is poor Noel Kate Cho as Anne, Jacob and Monica’s daughter, David’s older sister. She doesn’t have a lot to do in the movie; she disappears at times and randomly reappears when the scene calls for it, but much like life when special focus has to be placed on one child, stuff like that can certainly happen.

Lee Isaac Chung’s approach to this subject matters at hand is delicate. I think the heart of the movie is the nature of relationships: the relationship between Jacob and Monica, between Jacob and his crops, between David and Grandma, between the family as a unit and the America in general. All of that is tackled in such a way that seems natural, not heavy handed. There’s a possibility that it could lean one way to a syrupy sweet story about a family vs the world or could learn too far the other way and be treated as a bitter or cynical approach at the uphill struggle, but Chung managed to keep the story straight down the middle, both when writing it and directing it. This is a solid, noteworthy effort of directing and storytelling. He endears us to the characters so when the final moments happen we’re fully invested and ache for all of them as a whole. This movie is sneakily complex; it seems like a simple film but there’s a lot of moving parts happening throughout that make it engaging.

Minari is an excellent film. There’s multiple threads being carefully handled that intertwine, weave, and work congruently to create a story that is both beautiful and heart wrenching. Jacob’s balance of duty vs dreams is played deftly by Steven Yuen and Han Ye-ri’s struggle to keep a family together, while not examined as extensively as Yuen’s story, is something that is relatable to people from all walks of life. Another home run for A24, a studio that seemingly [almost] can do no wrong. A24s penchant for picking out good projects has to be lauded because they pick movies that know how to speak to the soul of a person. COVID stripped almost every blockbuster from the schedule and what it left us with was a lot of quiet, thoughtful, personal films. Minari distinctly stands out amongst those movies. 

Review by Darryl Mansel