"Minari": a look at the true American dream

By Rachel Levin, Copy Editor

“Minari,” directed by Lee Isaac Chung, won best foreign film at the Golden Globes on Feb. 28. Now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, the film takes a beautifully subtle look at family, faith and home. It weaves a story around old culture melding with new, and dreams facing reality. “Minari” extracts an impactful message from something seemingly mundane.

The film takes place in a small trailer home and a small farm in rugged Arkansas, where the Yi family works to make their life better than it was in Korea. Jacob Yi (Steven Yeun) moves his family across the country from California and purchases land where he plans to grow produce and make their family rich. Monica Yi (Han Ye-ri), Jacob’s wife, must deal with the stress of a new place and an uncertain future. Their daughter, Anne, must take on new responsibilities as an older sister, since her parents are busy with work and her younger brother and grandmother are unwell. Their son, David, puzzles through the idea of death as realities about his heart condition start to show up. The family is ultimately held together by Monica’s mother, Soonja, who bonds with David over their bad health.

The way “Minari” portrays family is through the little things like sleeping together on the floor after a scary experience, huddling together at a party full of strangers, Jacob agreeing to go to church because Monica wants to. “Minari” is not an epic, but it is just as, if not more impactful than one. It is a small story, about one family in the middle of nowhere, but it encapsulates an experience far beyond what is just shown on screen. Watching the film feels like living life with the Yi family, experiencing their ups and downs just as they would, and that is exactly what films like this should feel like. “Minari” is truly a masterpiece in storytelling.

The film fits with other pictures from the same production company, A-24. “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” and “Mid-90s” come to mind; these films start and end in the same place, but somehow still take the audience on an expansive journey. Their climaxes are conversations between family and friends, and their drama is arguments had in parking lots. Chung’s creative decisions made it feel as though he was telling his audience a story rather than playing them a movie. The wonderful thing about that is it is a far more intimate way of storytelling, a way that fits perfectly with the theme of “Minari.” 

Chung also made the decision to make racism a very small part of the film. The Yi family are Korean immigrants living in Arkansas in the 80s; it is almost unbelievable that there is no racism in that situation. That creative decision was an interesting one, but allowed the film to tell a different story. The story of racism in America is a big one, and one that often takes over the movie it occupies. There are beautiful and impactful films about racism in America, but “Minari” is not one of them, nor does it need to be. It encapsulated the immigrant experience in America without delving into the undeniable racism the family faced. That choice is one of the things that makes the story small. Small not meaning insignificant, but rather simple. It focused on the Yi family internally, because it was about them, and the message of family resilience and compromise did not need to be big to be impactful. Chung knew that, and the way he wrote the film made it obvious that it was written by a Korean person.

Films like “Minari” renew my faith in silver screen storytelling. It touched my heart in that unique way that only films that truly have a heart and soul can. “Minari” is unapologetically real, and so impactful in its honesty. It absolutely deserves its Golden Globe win.

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