'Minari' A Review

Minari is a semi-autobiographical drama from writer/director Lee Isaac Chung about a Korean immigrant family that moves from California to rural Arkansas in order to trade up their factory jobs for a farming. Jacob(Steven Yeun) is the one with the dreams for the farm while his wife Monica(Han Ye-ri ) has signficant reservations which cause near constant tension and fighting between the two. As his work on the farm progresses, with inevitable set backs, Monica's mother Soon-ja(Youn Yuh-jung) comes to live with them to help take care of their two children David(Alan Kim) and Anne(Noel Kate Cho).

Yeun and Ye-ri put in dynamic performances but their are somewhat limited by the overly ambitious scope of the script which has multiple plot lines going throughout but doesn't focus on anyone in paritcular, the result is although the two actors have undeniable talent what we see is mostly arguments and the characters inability to communicate. Yuh-jung is the real starburst, utterly confident, absolutely immersed in the moment, and utterly charming able to transcend what can be a relatively predictable domestic drama. Her chemistry with Kim is wonderful and it is somewhat confusing that this relationship isn't given more focus. Cho does a good job but her role is given relatively short shrift in favor of other the other themes and ideas. The other bright spot in the cast is Will Patton, going pretty big all things considered, but his character, an eccentric veteran who's a neighbor and helps out on the farm, brings some much needed variety.

Beautifully shot with a somewhat overly done score, the period costumes, vehicles, and the limited, simple, but highly effective locations make for an solid production. The fault lies predominately with the script, it is perhaps too ambitious, it lacks focus, and as a result it is not entirely clear what were meant to take away from it. In the third act there are a series of events the border on Oscar-bait cliche, and other than Yuh-jung and Patton, the veterans of the cast, none of the other characters come across as particularly dimensional, a result not of the actors or the script being in and of itself poor but of time/focus management. Is the film about David and the summer of his youth he won't forget? Is it about the marital struggles of the two leads? Is it about the Korean American experience in 70s/80s? Is it a comment about farming and agriculture? Is there some kind of religious allegory? The film shoots for all of these but in so doing fails to deliver completely on any of them.

Colossal work by Yuh-jung makes this worth watching in and of itself let alone the other, impressive, cast members even though in total it is somewhat limited by its ambition.

Currently available to rent on most VOD platforms.

Stream It.