Minari (2020) * * *

 

Directed by:  Lee Isaac Chung

Starring:  Steven Yeun, Noel Kate Cho, Will Patton, Alan S. Kim, Yeri Han, Yuh-Jung Youn

Like the vegetables Jacob (Yeun) painstakingly grows in his field in 1980's Arkansas, Minari takes its time to grow and mature into a portrait of a Korean family trying to make its mark.  Jacob wants nothing more than to be a successful, lucrative farmer.   His wife Monica (Han) resents uprooting their life in California to start over halfway across the country.   Their two bright children, who speak English as a first language, don't like to see their parents fight.   Monica's mother Soonja (Youn) soon moves in and shakes things up with her coarse language, gambling, and directness.   Youn's performance stands out slightly more in a movie filled with very good ones and is likely to win her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

Jacob is as intense and focused as Soonja is carefree.   His squabbles with his wife threaten to ruin their marriage.   They can't meet on the same ground.   Another colorful supporting character is Paul (Patton), an evangelical Christian man who works as Jacob's ranch hand and spends his Sundays carrying a cross down a country road.   People like Soonja and Paul breathe life into Minari and lifts it up when it sags.  Minari is autobiographical for writer-director Chung and he has a distinct feel for a time and place which means a lot to him.  

One refreshing aspect of Minari is how its Korean characters do not encounter racism.   Their fellow churchgoers appreciate their presence and make them feel welcome.   The kids are allowed to sleep over their white friends' homes without issue.   I was fully expecting the locals to give the newcomers a hard time, but it did not happen.   Minari is one movie about immigrants which isn't defined by the prejudice they encounter and for that I am grateful.

The night I saw this movie, I then watched Bill Maher's rant about how this year's Oscar-nominated films for Best Picture are downers.   It mentions the ending of Minari, which throws a curve ball into Jacob's plans and forces he and the family to regroup.   I would have preferred a smoother, perhaps more upbeat ending, but sometimes life just isn't like that.