Review: Minari

Minari, directed by Lee Isaac Chung, tells the tale of a Korean family who immigrated from South Korea to start a new life in rural Arkansas. Led by their optimistic patriarch Jacob (Steven Yeun), the family adjust to the sudden change of culture with Jacob’s wife Monica (Han Ye-ri) being particularly unhappy with her new home. The kids don’t seem to mind, until Monica’s mother (Yoon Yuh-jung) moves in with them and cause some personal strife particularly with Jacob’s son David (Alan Kim).

This film has gotten a lot of buzz ever since its premiere in Sundance back in January, and recently the film became the subject of controversy when the Golden Globes for some reason decided to consider this a “foreign film” despite being an American production with American producers, therefore being ineligible for either Best Picture Golden Globes. Just because the majority of the film is spoken in another language other than English doesn’t mean it’s automatically “foreign;” context matters you know.

But that’s besides the point, how is the actual film? It’s pretty great actually. Minari is a truly endearing piece of work that many will no doubt love.

The film’s story is heavily inspired by director Lee Isaac Chung’s personal childhood, and it’s a great story as it is. The characters are all relatable and charming in their own way, the writing feels real, there’s a lot of great character development especially with the children in the film, this is clearly a passion project for the director and he treated it with so much love. The performances from everyone were solid; the child actors in particular I thought really stood out here. The film’s score is uniquely melancholic, the cinematography is gorgeous, and the film balances drama with humor pretty well.

The one major thing that bothers me for this film is that the themes and messages are a little too heavy handed. They make it pretty obvious what the themes for the film are in each scene. The film’s ending I also felt was a little too convenient. There was a lot of conflict in this film that I thought was resolved way too easily by the end of the film. It makes for a happy ending, but it also chucks out some of the film’s themes that they spend a lot of time re-enforcing in a very obvious manner.

Regardless of the film’s short comings though, this film is great. It’s a very well made family drama that speaks to the heart. The film will hopefully get a wider release in the coming months and once it does I strongly recommend everyone checks this film out at some point. Time will tell if this film will be the big comeback to the awards circuit that A24’s looking for, but regardless of whether this garners awards attention this is one of the most memorable films of 2020.

Final Verdict: 8/10