Minari
Minari
The movie Minari is about an American family of Korean heritage that buys some land in Arkansas to get a new start. In an opening scene, the husband shows his wife the "color of the dirt." She says sarcastically, "You bought the land because of the color of the dirt?" Their struggle to save their marriage and make their new farm succeed makes for a terrific movie.
At the Sundance Film Festival it won both the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize, a rare feat. It now has six Oscar nominations: best picture, best actor, best supporting actress, best original score, best director, and best original screenplay. Lee Isaac Chung was both the director and the writer. The terrific Steven Yeun played the father and Youn Yuh-Jung played the grandmother. She would be the one most likely to win an award for her wild and yet nuanced performance. She was superb.
When you hear about a movie that's about a Korean family moving to Arkansas, you expect to see a lot of the usual bigotry traditionally associated with that type of movie. One of the reasons I loved the movie so much is there is none of that. Each character is treated with respect for their dignity. The family finds a friend and hard worker in a religious fanatic who celebrates Sunday service by carrying a heavy wooden cross for miles.
The director referred to it as an "American movie." And that is exactly what it is. It does not matter what the heritage of the main characters is. They are just a family looking for a new start, like families around the world often do. They just happened to be Korean.
The movie itself is set in the 1980s. We know that because of one reference to President Reagan. The word "minari" itself is Korean for an edible plant that can grow easily in just about any place. In the after movie discussion, they call it "the second harvest" after the main crop is done. That is the central metaphor for the movie. Here is what the director said about the plant: "The interesting thing about it is that it's a plant that will grow very strongly in its second season, after it has died and come back."
The movie Minari is about an American family of Korean heritage that buys some land in Arkansas to get a new start. In an opening scene, the husband shows his wife the "color of the dirt." She says sarcastically, "You bought the land because of the color of the dirt?" Their struggle to save their marriage and make their new farm succeed makes for a terrific movie.
At the Sundance Film Festival it won both the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize, a rare feat. It now has six Oscar nominations: best picture, best actor, best supporting actress, best original score, best director, and best original screenplay. Lee Isaac Chung was both the director and the writer. The terrific Steven Yeun played the father and Youn Yuh-Jung played the grandmother. She would be the one most likely to win an award for her wild and yet nuanced performance. She was superb.
When you hear about a movie that's about a Korean family moving to Arkansas, you expect to see a lot of the usual bigotry traditionally associated with that type of movie. One of the reasons I loved the movie so much is there is none of that. Each character is treated with respect for their dignity. The family finds a friend and hard worker in a religious fanatic who celebrates Sunday service by carrying a heavy wooden cross for miles.
The director referred to it as an "American movie." And that is exactly what it is. It does not matter what the heritage of the main characters is. They are just a family looking for a new start, like families around the world often do. They just happened to be Korean.
The movie itself is set in the 1980s. We know that because of one reference to President Reagan. The word "minari" itself is Korean for an edible plant that can grow easily in just about any place. In the after movie discussion, they call it "the second harvest" after the main crop is done. That is the central metaphor for the movie. Here is what the director said about the plant: "The interesting thing about it is that it's a plant that will grow very strongly in its second season, after it has died and come back."
No comments have been added yet.
