Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Minari shows that the American dream is not limited to native English speakers (Film review)

 
of Minari at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre
 
Minari (U.S.A., 2020)
-- Part of the Hong Kong International Film Festival's Cinephile Paradise program
-- Lee Isaac Chung, director and scriptwriter
-- Starring: Steven Yeun, Yeri Han, Alan Kim, Noel Cho, Youn Yuh Jung
 
Two days ago, veteran actress Youn Yuh Jung (who I've previously seen in Hong Kong International Film Festival selections such as The Bachus Lady) made history by becoming the first Korean ever to win the Screen Actors Guild (SAG)'s Best Supporting Actress award.  And there is no doubt that she put in a great performance in Minari as the grandmother who moves from South Korea to Arkansas to reunite with her beloved only daughter and care for her grandkids.
 
Minari's lead actor, Steven Yeun, was also nominated for a SAG award (along with -- like Youn Yuh Jung -- an Oscar).  He didn't win but, actually, far more of a surprise for me was the absence of SAG and Oscar nominations for the film's lead actress, Yeri Han: whose character, I felt, was actually the heart of this beautifully made film.  Though, actually, this deceptively small domestic drama which centers on a family of ethnic Koreans trying to make it in their new American home is one of those with so many important characters and so much heart as well as will tear at it.    
 
In view of two of its major characters being children, it's a tribute to director Lee Isaac Chung how uniformly well-acted this movie is.  Eight-year-old Alan Kim threatens to steal the show at times as the Americanized son who is far less resentful of his father uprooting their family from urban California to the rural south to pursue his dream of owning and operating a farm than his very Korean grandmother for moving in with them -- a situation which requires him to share his bedroom with her.  And while Noel Cho is given fewer chances to shine as the good daughter with maturity beyond her years, she admirably holds her own in a cast that includes at least one acting legend (in Youn Yuh Jung) along with established actors who have achieved stardom in their home countries.
 
Also exemplary is Lee Isaac Chung's bilingual script, which shows how the American dream is not limited to native English speakers.  There's so much authencity to the tale that it's no big surprise to learn that its's more or less autobiographical -- and because there obviously is so much emotion invested in them, the characters in the film (including the eccentric Arkansas native played by Will Patton) feel so very real and become people you will care for.   
               
About the one major gripe I have with Minari is that its trailer contains a major spoiler (specifically, a dramatic scene that takes place late in the movie).  Unfortunately, because I saw it before I went into the HKIFF screening of the film, I spent a good part of over an hour feeling tense and waiting for that part of the story to unfold.  So if you're reading this review before you have watched the trailer as well as the film, do yourself a favor and steer clear of doing so (the trailer, I mean; not the feature length work itself)!
 
My rating for the film: 8.0   

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