MINARI : Tuesday 2nd March 2021.

'MINARI' which I saw earlier this week, is a PG Rated American drama film Written and Directed by Lee Isaac Chung whose previous feature film credits are 'Munyurangabo', 'Lucky Life', 'Abigail Harm' and the documentary 'I Have Seen My Last Born'. The film saw its World Premiere showcasing at the Sundance Film Festival at the end of January 2020, winning both the US Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and the US Dramatic Audience Award, and in the meantime has collected sixty-seven award wins and a further 161 nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit including three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, ten Critics' Choice Movie Award nominations, six Independent Spirit Award nominations, and the recently announced Golden Globe Award win for Best Foreign Language Film. Needless to say the film has been universally acclaimed, cost US$2M to produce and has so far returned US$737K since its release in the US on 12th February and here in Australia on 18th February.

Set during the 1980's the Korean American Yi family moves from California to a rural plot of fifty acres in Arkansas in search of their own American Dream. Arriving at the new home is husband and father Jacob Yi (Steven Yeun), his wife and mother Monica (Han Ye-ri), older daughter Anne (Noel Kate Cho) and younger son David (Alan Kim). Although Jacob has visited the property before, this is the first time that the other family members have clapped eyes on the place, and suffice to say there are none too pleased with the sight that greets them. There new home in the Ozarks hinterland is a mobile home propped up on wheels that seems to be a far cry from the comforts they enjoyed in California. But nonetheless Jacob is determined to make a go of it and live off the land, by cultivating Korean crops which he will sell to markets and shops in Dallas to sustain the 40,000 or so Korean immigrants to America every year. 

One of the early decisions Jacob makes is to pass on the services of a water diviner for the sum of US$300 and so he digs a well in a spot he finds on his own. Next up he enlists the help of Paul (Will Patton), a local man who sells him a tractor for US$2,000 and who is also deeply religious. While Jacob is optimistic about the family's future prospects, Monica is disappointed and worries about David's heart condition. David is constantly told not to run for fear of worsening the condition. The husband and wife team work sexing chicks at a nearby hatchery and argue a lot while David and Anne listen in from their bedrooms. 

To help mind the children throughout the day, they arrange for Monica's mother Soon-ja (Youn Yuh-jung) to travel from Korea to live with them. David, who only meets his grandmother for the first time, is forced to share his bedroom with her, and he goes out of his way to avoid her because she does not conform to his idea of how a grandmother should be - she swears a lot, doesn't bake cookies and smells are just some of his complaints. That said, Soon-ja attempts to adjust to life in the US and bond with her grandchildren.

In the meantime, Jacob's crops are growing well and plentiful, although one day he notices that the drip irrigation lines have stopped running. The well that Jacob dug some months earlier had run dry. He is reluctant to pay for county water, but ultimately is forced to do so. He also encounters additional challenges, such as the vendor in Dallas cancelling their order just as he was about to dispatch it. Still, he perseveres despite Monica's repeated wishes to return to California. This puts extra strain on their marriage.
  

One day Soon-ja takes David out walking on the property, and they come to a stream where she says to the young boy that they should plant minari seeds by the waters edge. She tells them of how resilient and useful the plant is, and predicts plentiful growth, using the seeds that she brought over from Korea. David gradually starts to bond with his grandmother after she teaches him card games, bandages a wound to his foot, and gently strokes him to sleep. She also encourages him to be more physical, suggesting he run more even though his parents discourage any form of physical activity that would put undue pressure on his already fragile heart, saying that he is stronger than they think he is.

Soon-ja suffers a stroke one night and whilst she survives with the aid of medical treatment, she is left with impaired speech and movement. Jacob, Monica, David, and Anne travel to Oklahoma City for David's heart appointment with a specialist doctor and to meet with a potential vendor to sell Jacob's produce. They learn that David's heart condition has dramatically improved and Jacob makes a deal to sell vegetables to a Korean grocer, although Jacob also indirectly admits to Monica that the success of his crops is more important to him than the stability of their family, and if she wants to go back to California then she is free to do so, but without him, as he needs to finish what he started. Following an emotional argument, the pair quietly agree to go their separate ways.

While the family were in Oklahoma Soon-ja was left home alone, where she decided to have a clear out of the barn and burn the garbage, as was common practice. However, that evening while stoking the fire in an old oil drum, she accidentally sets the barn containing David's recently harvested crops on fire. Driving back in the dark Soon-ja comments that she smells smoke and there is a faint glow on the horizon. Upon arriving home to the burning barn, Jacob rushes in to save his crops, and Monica soon follows. Quickly the fire grows out of control, and they decide to save each other while leaving the barn and all of its produce to burn. A distraught and confused Soon-ja starts to wander off into the night, as Anne and David call for her to come back. As she does not responding to them, David breaks into a sprint to catch up with her, blocking her path. Soon-ja appears to recognise David for a moment, and reaches for his hand and the grandchildren lead her back home. Later, Jacob and Monica are with the water diviner who locates a position for a well. They mark it with a heavy stone noting their intention to remain on the farm. Jacob and David then head to the stream to harvest the minari, which had grown plentifully, with Jacob noting that Soon-ja picked a good place to plant the seeds.

'Minari' moves along at a slow lumbering pace with nothing really by way of story line other that what goes down in the daily lives of this immigrant family that have moved from Korea to California to rural Arkansas in search of the great American Dream - and do the get there? Well kind of I guess, but not without hardship and anguish along the way. This is hardly an uplifting film, although at the end there is some light at the end of the tunnel as the family seem to have reconciled themselves to their fate. The positives are the performances from the principle cast most notably young Alan Kim and the family matriarch Youn Yuh-jung who is not afraid to speak her mind, uses profanity, plays practical jokes and makes decisions in isolation of others no matter the consequences. The full range of human behaviour and emotions are on display here which adds depth and heart to the otherwise thin story, and a poignancy to Director Chung's autobiographical film of his own upbringing in rural Arkansas. 

'Minari' warrants four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-