MINARI REVIEW

 *MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

Since its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January last year, Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari has received a positive reception from critics with the majority of them saying that it offers an intimate and heart-wrenching portrait of family and assimilation in 1980s America. Because of this, my expectations were high and it quickly became one of my most anticipated films. Unfortunately, with cinemas closed, Minari doesn’t have a release date in the UK. However, because it’s one of the films that is showing at the Glasgow Film Festival, I was able to watch Minari.

Minari is set in the 1980s and focuses on David (Alan Kim), a seven year old Korean American boy who is faced with new surroundings and a different way of life when his father, Jacob (Steven Yeun), moves their family from the West Coast to rural Arkansas. David’s 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 are bored and aimless. When his equally mischievous grandmother, Soon-ja (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.

For most of its 115 minute runtime, Minari is a pleasant, lighthearted drama and is an easy watch. Because it’s never too serious, the occasional moments of humour don’t feel out of place and makes the film all the more entertaining. Most of the comedy comes from David’s grandmother, Soon-ja, who isn’t afraid to swear in front of her grandchildren. However, there’s a softer and caring side to her character and that is shown through her relationship with David. The title of the film refers to Minari, which is a plant of the water dropwort genus originating from East Asia, and is grown by Soon-ja who tells her grandchildren of how resilient and useful the plant is, and predicts plentiful growth. The plant could be seen as a metaphor for David’s growing relationship with his grandmother. When Soon-ja first arrives in Arkansas to look after her grandchildren, David doesn’t like her. However, as the two spend more time together, the closer they become. The blossoming relationship between David and Soon-ja is where Minari is at its most heartwarming.

The narrative for Minari is semi-autobiographical, with Chung's writing based on memories from his own childhood growing up on a farm in Arkansas. He cited Willa Cather and Fyodor Dostoevsky as inspirations during the writing process, recalling the former's quote "that her life really began when she stopped admiring and started remembering" as a motivation to draw on his own experiences. It's clear that Minari means a lot to Chung as a lot of care and effort has gone into creating a powerful drama. Despite the language barrier (the majority of the film is spoken in Korean), Minari will connect to any viewer who has ever moved to a new location and felt like an outsider in their new home. While Jacob is happy with his new home as he plans to grow Korean produce to sell to vendors in Dallas, his wife, Monica, is less than impressed and constantly worries about David’s heart condition. The theme of family is explored effectively within the narrative which is why Minari will resonate with a lot of people. The Yi family behave like any other family would, with Jacob and Monica arguing and David teasing and annoying his older sister, Anne. 

Like Bong Joon-ho said at the 77th Golden Globes last year, “Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films”. That’s certainly true of Minari, which is one of the most heartwarming films I’ve watched. The pandemic has had an impact on a lot of people’s mental health, with the majority of them struggling with depression. However, Minari is a perfect film to watch as it’s uplifting. For most of Minari’s runtime, I had a smile on my face. Although most of the film is a pleasant and easy watch, the story becomes more serious when Soon-ja suddenly suffers a stroke and is left with impaired movement and speech. It’s heartbreaking watching Soon-ja’s health deteriorate. This is where Yuh-jung’s performance was at its most impressive. Another shocking scene sees Soon-ja accidentally setting the family barn on fire, which contains Jacob’s produce. This is where Minari is at its most intense. 

Following its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January last year, Minari has been lauded by critics. On the review aggregator website, Rotten Tomatoes, 98% of over 200 critics have given Chung’s film a positive review. At the time of writing this review, Minari is currently nominated at the 78th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. However, this decision was widely criticised with many people believing it should have been nominated for Best Motion Picture - Drama, with Lulu Wang, who directed The Farewell in 2019, saying that she’s not seen a “more American film than Minari”. While this decision is disappointing, I’m still happy that Minari has been recognised. Hopefully, it will be nominated for Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards.

Although we’re not even three months in 2021, Minari is, definitely, one of the most heartwarming and uplifting films I’ve watched and I can’t imagine any other film coming close to leaving as much as a lasting impression that it has. 

8/10